Fallout 4 speculation spun up again today with news of a German trademark filing for something called Fallout: Shadow of Boston. Made on October 25 and dug up by NeoGAF, it covers "computer game discs; downloadable computer game programs; [and] computer games program downloaded via the internet."
The filing falls in line with reports from late last year, when leaked documents indicated that the next Fallout will be set in and around Boston. The purported script in that case referred to The Institute, which arose from the ashes of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as the Commonwealth—Fallout's name for the remains of Massachusetts—and the Commonwealth Minutemen.
Unfortunately, this filing, like the previous one associated with the brilliantly good thesurvivor2099.com hoax, is false. Bethesda disavowed the filing on Twitter, writing, "The German trademark filing that's making the rounds is a hoax. This didn't come from our offices."
The German trademark filing that's making the rounds is a hoax. This didn't come from our offices.
There's no question that a new Fallout game is being made, just like a new Call of Duty is being made, and a new Grand Theft Auto, and a new Half-Life. Okay, maybe that last one is a bit of wishful thinking, but the point is that game publishers don't just pull the plug on their big-hit franchises for no particular reason. Fallout is huge, and we will get more of it, and it might even be set in Boston. But Shadow of Boston? I'm afraid not.
For the past year, almost all of the time I ve spent playing PC games has been upright, with both feet firmly planted. When I decided to switch to a standing desk, I wasn't curious about the ( disputed, according to Wikipedia) health benefits. I just wanted to give my gaming setup a makeover. If gaining Chun-Li legs was going to a side-effect of playing CS:GO all day, great. But I was mostly concerned with refreshing the look and feel of my desk area.
A year later, I couldn t be happier with my setup. If I can help it, I won't play PC games in a chair at home again. Here s what I ve learned after more than 12 months of playing PC games upright.
Do it yourself
There are a ton of pre-built standing desks available on Amazon. And almost none of them are suitable for PC gaming. Many of these desks feature questionable keyboard trays or terraced stands or, hauntingly, both. These configurations aren t conducive to how I like to play: with a wide, spacious, fixed surface for my mouse and keyboard.
I cobbled together a standing desk from old and new IKEA parts, a variation on the Utby Underframe build I saw online. I used pieces of galvanized steel pipe to link two 47x24 Ikea tabletops, one of which I d cannibalized from my old sitting desk. The 4 gap between them is where my peripherals sit, hiding my mouse and keyboard from the tabletop.
Because I possess zero engineering sense, I made some mistakes that required a couple days of effort and a trip to Home Depot to resolve. But I m really happy that I built the desk myself. It s infused my gaming space with a greater feeling of ownership, something that I think PC gaming naturally invites.
If you want a standing desk, you should build a standing desk. Like your PC itself, it s a project that you can adapt based on how handy you are (up until that point my resume consisted of picture hanging), what your monitor configuration is, and how much money you can spend. The last thing you want is a hundred-pound block of wood off of Amazon that doesn t suit your needs.
The first two weeks of using my standing desk wasn t the revelation in posture and personal health that I thought they d be. Within an hour, my knees ached. My ankles got sore. I shifted my weight around a lot uncomfortably. It reminded me of Sunday afternoons spent trapped while my family wandered JCPenney.
Some of this discomfort was my own fault. I figured that the surface I had beneath my desk, some shaggy Ikea carpet, would be fine for standing. Nope. Then I tried a yoga mat—folded over itself—as a stopgap, but that barely alleviated my angry joints.
A $20 anti-fatigue mat on Amazon was what I needed. I can t emphasize this more: if you re running a standing desk, you need a proper mat under your feet. It isn t optional. I ve since completely adapted to playing while standing, to the point where I can play uninterrupted for three or four hours. (And that amount of time before I feel uncomfortable is actually something I like—read further down the page.)
My standing setup also prompted me to switch to a wireless headset. One of the things I found about a standing posture is that it naturally made me want to move around, either as minor relief from standing or, say, to jump in excitement after a victory. (Another habit I ve gained is running into my kitchen while I m queued for competitive CS:GO, listening in for a match to be found while I mash together some combination of bread and cheese.)
Anyway, having a cord attached to my head inhibited that; I felt tethered to the desk, and I hated it. I ve used Steelseries H Wireless headset since, which has all the qualities (after audio quality) that I like in headsets: durability, breathability, comfort, a good mic, and hardware mute/volume buttons.
On page two: the biggest benefit I've experienced from switching to a standing desk.
Adjustable height is essential
Four $30 Ikea Gerton legs were the most expensive part of my build. I spent the first several days with the desk trying out a few different heights, and this adjustment process was key to finding the ergonomically correct level for the keyboard (forearms parallel to the ground) and the monitor (eyes level with about the top of the monitor). Having a monitor that I could change the height of was helpful too. If you re building a standing desk yourself as I suggest, make as many parts of your setup vertically adjustable as you can: a lot of folks add a dedicated monitor stand.
The modest fatigue that I feel while playing is actually useful.
I spend my gaming time more deliberately
By far the most positive change I've noticed while using a standing desk is that gaming has come to feel like less of a passive activity. Being vertical while playing CS:GO or Dead State or Shadow of Mordor makes me feel more present in what I'm doing.
And the modest fatigue that I feel while playing is actually welcome: it s made me less likely to linger pointlessly at my desk. I spend far less time crawling YouTube or lurking Reddit. I eat dinner at my desk less often, a habit I wasn t completely proud of.
It s not a dramatic difference in mindset, but gaming feels like a more deliberate activity to me today than it did a year ago. I m conscious of what I m doing as I m doing it, and I want to spend that time playing the best stuff I can. Having a tablet has helped, admittedly, so that I can transition to the couch for a break every hour or two to scan Twitter or read comics.
A side note: I mostly play FPSes, but turn-based or slower-paced strategy games in particular have become more fun to me while standing. I can t fully explain it, but being upright grants Sins of a Solar Empire and Xenonauts some extra seriousness. Standing made me feel more like a commander.
World of Warcraft is a behemoth. It makes a ton of money every month, and even though it's ten years old, Blizzard just announced that game servers would finally be rolled out in Australia. That's a solid vote of confidence in the game's long-term viability. But the subscriber numbers have dwindled, to "only" about 7.4 million at last count, and of course free-to-play is all the rage these days. So naturally, investors want to know if Blizzard is thinking about making the transition.
The short answer is, no. "I don't foresee any dramatic changes to our business model in World of Warcraft," Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said during an investor's call, transcribed by
Seeking Alpha. "We do currently provide the first 20 levels of World of Warcraft completely free. So anybody is able to try those out."
World of Warcraft generally sees a surge in subscriptions immediately following the release of an expansion, Morhaime explained, and that's held true with the upcoming Warlords of Draenor, which has helped
push the subscriber count from 6.8 million to 7.4 million in advance of its November 13 launch. But this time around, Blizzard has also focused on making it easier for lapsed players to return to the game and quickly catch up on what's changed since they quit.
"We're already seeing positive signs that it's working," Morhaime said. "We have updated the player models in Warlords of Draenor and have really freshened the game's look and feel. We've added the new Garrisons feature that allows players to create a home base in the world. And we're hoping that these improvements will help players feel more ownership and attachment to the game and will make it more fun for them to stick around following the expansion."
Along with planning for the future, Blizzard is also preparing to give fans a look back at the game's ten-year history with the coming release of
World of Warcraft: Looking for Group, a documentary featuring both players and creators that promises to take viewers "into corners of Blizzard and the WoW community you've never seen before." World of Warcraft: Looking for Group will premiere at 5 pm PST on November 8 on the Blizzcon World of Warcraft Tournament Live Stream.
In Why I Love, PC Gamer writers pick an aspect of PC gaming that they love and write about why it's brilliant. Today, why stake guns are the best guns.
I tried Fear to be wowed by its advanced AI and slow motion face-kicking, but stayed to pin grey guards to grey walls. Some might see a game of bland, endless corridors, but to me every empty wall in Fear is an opportunity. They're blank canvases to which guards must be stapled one by one until the game runs out of guards, or stakes, and I have to find another game with more walls and stakes and men to feed my need to pin wobbly rag dolls to flat surfaces.
Stakes are better than bullets, because in games a bullet tends to be a purely theoretical entity when it's in transit. Your gun spits out some muzzle flash and the thing you're pointing it at might bleed or explode a little. Between those points there's rarely a sense that there's a slug ripping through the air.
Not so with the weighty stake. It discharges with a menacing 'ker-thwunk' rather than a blas gunpowder 'pop'. It sticks into things and lets you methodically pincushion enemies. Best of all, stakes can interact with enemy ragdolls in amusing ways. In Fear you can pin a guard to a tiny railing by his shin and then watch the physics system try to resolve the situation. Will he crumple into a distorted heap on the floor or vault bodily over the railing and get stuck in vibrating stasis halfway? What happens if I go into slow motion and kick the vibrating man? These are questions enabled by the mighty stake gun.
Fear's stake gun is called the "HV Penetrator", and it's a semi-automatic stake gun that fires metal stakes very fast. Bioshock 2's exemplary spear gun fires them one at a time, but with tremendous purpose. Bolts are powerful, as they should be, but hard to scavenge from Bioshock 2's bins. The genius of the Bioshock 2 stake gun is that you can pull the stakes back out of enemies and plop them straight back in your gun for re-use. I went for hours with only one stake. I would impale splicers at point-blank range, rip the spear from their chest and then move onto the next one. Ker-thwunk, splat, reload.
The act of reloading and firing a stake gun is always satisfying. Their mechanisms are often exposed, and they have the same chunky mechanical operations as their medieval ancestor, the crossbow. They're also silly enough to still seem novel in an FPS arena packed full of boring variations on the modern assault rifle.
I even love the rhythm of a good stake gun. I've always preferred the confident decision-making that you get with high-impact weapons that have relatively low rates of fire. When you're sure, you shoot, and the result is a decisive and spectacular death. The stake gun delivers that brilliantly, especially in Painkiller. That particular stake gun can gib weaker opponents (as well as pin them to walls). The secondary fire throws out grenades, but why use bombs when a well-placed bolt is twice as satisfying?
You'll find more of our favourite shooter weapons in our roundup of the best guns in PC gaming. What are your favourites?
*Puts on blockbuster trailer voice* "In a world of helicopters, one DLC had... *pause for explosion* ...more helicopters. It's time to experience the helicopter experience of the year. From the studio that brought you Take On Helicopters; it's Helicopters—a DLC for Arma 3. Coming this right now." *Fade to black*
Okay, so its not loads more helicopters. In fact, two: the CH-67 Huron and the Mi-290 Taru. In addition to that, there's a new showcase and some time trials. The DLC costs 11 / $16.
Perhaps more interesting are the free additions being made to the base game. Accompanying Helicopters is a platform update that adds a new multiplayer mode, helicopter VR training, and optional alternative flight dynamics. These extras are being made available to all Arma 3 players, regardless of whether they buy the Helicopters DLC.
Yesterday we learned that GTA 5 will get a first person mode supported by new animations, vehicle interiors and first person gun models. There's a video of all that now, and it looks really good. Particularly the bit with the bike at night in the rain.
The footage is advertising the PS4 and Xbox One version of the game, which is out on November 18. The PC version will support 4k resolutions (though you'll probably need a killer machine to run it well) and is due out in January 2015.
I can't wait. I've never cared much for GTA's gangsters, but Rockstar's worlds are remarkable, and full of ways to have fun without even breaking the law.
Riot Games has revealed the new League of Legends Champion Kalista, a twisted specter whose powers grant substantial damage bonuses to her Soul-Bound allies.
Based by her description, Kalista is a powerful Champion, but not a powerhouse. "Kalista is a marksman who cooperates with her Soul-Bound to deal substantial sustained damage, access her full repertoire of abilities and wither her enemies under her relentless assault," it states. "Kalista s potential is unlocked by solid communication and cooperation with allies rather than raw mechanical skill."
League of Legends designer Bradford "CertainlyT" Wenban said Kalista is designed for players who enjoy, or want to get better at, cooperative play. Bot lane fights often turn into two separate one-on-one battles rather than a proper two-vs-two contest, something the Sentinel passive Soul-Marked is intended to discourage through its emphasis on focused fire. At the same time, the character is designed to enable "tighter, more consistent teamwork without making Kalista so communication dependent that you practically need to play in the same room as your Soul-Bound."
"As designers, we are constantly trying to help players succeed. Building scenarios that overwhelm or confuse players is simple, laying the foundations for success is the challenge," Wenban wrote. "As such, Kalista highlights the cooperative end-state in which she and her ally are most likely to succeed and offers a tool kit to enable players to reach that state."
Swimming pools weren't a part of The Sims 4 when it launched back in September, which was upsetting not because it deprived our sims of fun and exercise, but because it meant we couldn't amuse ourselves by drowning them, en masse, in their own backyards. Recognizing its mistake, EA hurried to assure fans that the watery graves—that is, pools—would return, and today it's finally happened.
Pools in The Sims 4 can be built diagonally, something EA said "many of you have asked for," and windows can be placed on their walls "to create an infinity-pool aquatic escape for your Sims." Wall heights are also adjustable, enabling pool designs of various depths, and they can be built on the ground or any floor of a house, even the roof. A new line of swimwear has also been added, to ensure that Sims have something appropriate to wear when they go for a dip.
Of course, with the return of pools comes the return of death by drowning. The ghosts of those who pass on by the pool may be a little more wary of water than they were during their flesh-and-blood life (although I'm not sure why the ethereal undead would have to worry about such things), and the announcement implies that there will be other surprises included with the update as well.
The pool update is live now, and also includes numerous bug fixes, enhancements, and tweaks. A detailed breakdown of the included changes is up at help.ea.com.
Revealed to the world in mid-2013, Dawngate was intended to be EA's triumphant entry into the lucrative, League of Legends-dominated MOBA genre. But a little more than six months after the open beta began, the plug has been pulled.
"We built a game in Dawngate that wasn t simply a clone of existing MOBAs, but one that truly pushed the genre forward in many ways," Group General Manager Matt Bromberg said in today's announcement of the cancellation. But while the game has been in various forms of beta testing for almost 18 months, "we're not seeing the progress we'd hoped for," he continued. "This isn t the outcome we wanted, but beta testing is about learning and improving, and ultimately, about making difficult decisions about how to proceed."
Dawngate will continue to operate for 90 days, and players will be given full refunds of any money they spent on the game during the beta. Bromberg said most of those refunds should be processed within the next ten days, but players who don't have current payment information on file will need to contact the company first at help.ea.com. For those who want to see what they missed out on, the client is, for now at least, still available for download at Dawngate.com. As for developer Waystone Games, its fate isn't clear at this point, but is unlikely to be good.
