RedLynx sure know how to keep a platform waiting. Their breakout biking hit, 2D motorbiking platformer Trials 2: Second Edition, launched on Steam back in 2008. Since then they moved their game-development garage to Xbox Live Arcade, making the expanded and enhanced Trials HD and the flipping brilliant Trials Evolution. Unfortunately, it seemed as if the PC had been long left in the dust. Instead, RedLynx appear to have been biding their time for a dramatic re-entry, as they've now announced Trials Evolution: Gold Edition.

The Gold Edition will include both Trials Evolution and Trials HD, in a version that's "specifically enhanced for PC." Both games will run in Evolution's fancier engine, with Ubisoft Shanghai handling porting duties, and RedLynx overseeing the process. The 2D motorbike platformer is due out for "both digital and retail channels" on March 22nd.



What doesn't appear to be included are the two Evolution DLC packs, Origin of Pain and Riders of Doom. Presumably they're being held back for future PC DLC. Still, you do get the ace Trials track editor, which has been responsible for a wealth of crazy courses, including this familiar level:

Graham, Chris and Marsh discuss Kentucky Route Zero, Dark Souls, Deus Ex and more in the latest episode of the PC Gamer UK podcast. Also featuring Increpare's Slave of God, NVidia Project Shield, Piston and your questions from Twitter. Marvel as we identify an entire new genre of adventure games! Sigh with relief as Chris looks like he might be starting to talk about Mass Effect again, but doesn't! Shake your head slowly as, at a certain point, we forget entirely how to speak!

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or download the MP3 directly. You can also listen to it on YouTube. Follow PC Gamer UK on Twitter to be informed when we're putting the call out for questions. Alternatively, follow us as individuals:

Graham - @gonnas
Marsh - @marshdavies
Chris - @cthursten

Show notes

Philippa Warr's Kentucky Route Zero review and Cardboard Computer's A House in California.
Increpare's Slave of God

Valve have posted a patch for Left 4 Dead 2 this morning. Along with the regular old incomprehensible patch notes, ("Cleaned up DLC add-on file dependencies and simplified talker file structure." Huh?) they've finally enabled Steam Workshop support, creating an easy system for browsing and installing new weapons, campaigns, items and - er - clothing. I guess the Venn diagram of fashion enthusiasts and mod creators does have some crossover.

As it's only been live for a few hours, L4D2's Workshop listing is still a bit barren. It shouldn't take long for some top content to appear, though - Left 4 Dead 2 already has a healthy modding community, so, with any luck, some of the best will be uploaded in the coming days.

Adding mods to the game was already a relatively simple process, but of course the Workshop streamlines it down further and, perhaps more importantly, will automatically each mod with any patch the creator uploads.

Hopefully we'll soon see some of the great community created campaigns start to appear, like these brilliant Back 2 School maps.

The recently released AXP-100 is the latest low-profile CPU cooler released to the UK market designed for those powerful mini-ITX motherboards I’m so fond of.

Cooler manufacturer Thermalright might be better known for their hefty, macho chip chillers, like the hefty Macho Rev.A tower cooler, but this here low-profile design ought to deliver some impressive cooling performance too.

With six 6mm heatpipes shifting the heat from the CPU out to the heatspreader and fan array it’s got the sort of cooling layout you’d normally expect to see in larger tower coolers. In fact the massive Macho Rev.A cooler is also running with six 6mm heatpipes too.

But it’s not all about the pipes and fins though, the actual fan makes a big difference to the cooling performance of your chip chiller too. The AXP-100 comes with a similarly low-profile 100mm fan, which adds just another 14mm on top of the heatsink itself, but they include a secondary fan mount that allows you to attach larger, more effective fans to the cooler.


That allows you to add fans up to 140mm and that will allow you to either keep your chip even cooler or allow you to spin it slower for the same thermal performance but with less noise. This Enhanced Fan Mount also allows the position of the fan to be moved around on either x or y axis so that you can ensure the larger fan doesn’t interfere with your small mobo’s attached graphics card or chunky performance RAM modules.

The fact Thermaright are including mountings for the LGA 2011 socket means that they’re pretty confident about the thermal performance of the AXP-100. Realistically though I think most people are going to be sticking these low-profile coolers on the sort of mini-ITX boards we’ve seen in the H77/Z77 range.

It does also mean you might be able to get some overclocking loving out of your CPU if the AXP-100 can give you a bit of thermal headroom to play with.

With the full-spec performance gear you can drop into a mini-ITX machine now who needs the crazily priced Piston Box when you can put together a teeny tiny system yourself for a fraction of the price?

My review sample has just landed on my test bench and I’ll be putting it through its paces very soon.

Chris Taylor has a lot of things to say about Gas Powered Games' RTS/RPG hybrid Wildman. We know, because we chiseled them all down on a reading rock coveted by our tribe. More information surfaced today as part of an update to backers of Wildman's Kickstarter campaign, as a still-unscathed Taylor stepped in front of the camera to show off a rough in-game ruckus and talk about DRM (spoiler: none), the game's proprietary engine, and multiplayer.

Before any of that, however, Taylor stressed the straightforwardness of his update with this pledge: "I'm not going to take a can of corn and open it up and make really bad jokes about the corn." Okey-doke.

The topic thankfully shifted away from packaged produce when Taylor revealed the first glimpses of what Wildman actually looks like in motion. "The number of characters fighting here is actually nothing compared to what we'll have," Taylor explained as the Wildman's band swarmed about and gave a serious beating to a rather defenseless snow hut. The slightly cartoonish look suggests a more lighthearted tone considering all the brain bashing you'll do, and Taylor noted it "allows us to do more visually."

Another pleasing tidbit: no DRM. Taylor was emphatic about dropping any sort of copy protection entirely, saying, "DRM is something we're not doing in Wildman." Yes.

Taylor also said Gas Powered's focus is "absolutely" on single-player with future co-op support for Warzones in a later update. Wildman's Kickstarter page further revealed the inclusion of both online and offline modes, and the studio's priorities are on the latter for mod support and a possible offline co-op feature. Yesx2.

All told, we've come away with three yays and no nays, but Wildman's fledgling state could very well bring major changes and design decisions further on. As always, we'll chisel up more info as we learn it.

Sure, conquering space bugs is fun and all, but none of it would exist if Blizzard hadn't first honed its strategy skills on a certain beloved fantasy franchise. Warcraft III released a little over a decade ago, and it remains a major influence to balancing, unit design, and story. That's why the Warcraft: A New Dawn total conversion excites us: it aspires to let us relive the entire Warcraft III experience with Starcraft II's updated visuals. Time for a little less Zerg and a little more zug-zug.

It's a work in progress, the few images and videos for A New Dawn show an intense dedication to recreating Warcraft III's memorable matchups of Horde against Alliance. Staple features such as day/night cycles (and associated visibility effects), weather, hero units, and gold-granting creep creatures are in the works. For the latter, modding group Wrekin Krew Studios plans two new creep types, Wanderers and Camps, to put up a challenging fight when encountered and drop powerful items when defeated.

The next step for Wreckin Krew is a working demo by spring, with maps using assets stitched together from Warcraft III and World of Warcraft. For now, take a look at some pre-alpha footage showing an Orc encampment apparently completely fine with a few Protoss buildings in its midst. How about that Blademaster, eh?

Australia's newly minted R18+ rating for video games is starting to work its magic. In a post on the Steam Forums, Valve's Chet Faliszek has confirmed the company is "exploring options" for resubmitting Left 4 Dead 2 for classification in Australia, where it was released as a censored version in 2009. Of course, enterprising and bloodthirsty Australians simply opted to order a copy from overseas, but technically that's illegal. Now, there's a chance you'll be able to inflict gratuitous harm safe from prosecution.

According to the post on the Steam forums, Faliszek said the company was on the case. "We have been exploring the options here and what we can legally do," he wrote. "We will have more information on this when we understand the issues fully and how we are moving forward, but don't worry, any cost associated with it doesn't worry us, this is something we want to do."

The Australian Classification Board introduced the new R18+ rating on January 1. Since then, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge for the Wii U has been the first to earn the rating, while Warner Bros has confirmed they will resubmit the previously banned Mortal Kombat for classification.

In a lengthy post on Blizzard's official forums, Diablo III Director Jay Wilson has announced his departure from the team he led for seven years to pursue another unspecified project at Blizzard. "I've reached a point creatively where I'm looking forward to working on something new," he writes. "This decision was not an easy one for me, and not one I made quickly, but ultimately it's what I feel is right."

Wilson's oversight of the much-hyped RPG wasn't immune from rocky periods. The clumsy, error-plagued launch frustrated fans that had waited almost a dozen years for a follow-up, and many criticized the game's end-game and real-money auction house.

But despite the difficulties, Wilson says he feels proud of Diablo III and its community, though he admits his communication could've been better at times. "I feel I have made many mistakes in managing that relationship, but my intent was always to provide a great gaming experience, and be as open and receptive as possible while still sticking true to the vision the Diablo team has for the game," he writes.

Wilson also promises future updates and support for Diablo III will continue, including the upcoming 1.0.7 PVP dueling patch. He didn't name a direct successor for taking over directing duties, but he didn't rule out the studio posting a future opening for the job "as we want to make sure we explore every opportunity to find the best possible leadership for the project."

Read the rest of Wilson's farewell on the forums.

Someday, Valve will eventually run out of wonderful features to pack into its mega-gaming-hub Steam. Let's hope it's a long way off, because we'll all be busy poring over the user-written manuals, walkthroughs, and tips for our various games in the newly launched Steam Guides section of Steam's Community area.

Anyone can create and submit a guide for the game of their choice by clicking the new Guide tab on a game's Community Hub page. You can pretty up your words with images and embedded YouTube videos as well, and the guides also appear upon Steam's overlay whenever you're running a program. Neat. I can finally whip up my "How to avoid tigers" guide I've been planning for Far Cry 3 quickly and easily.

Head over to the Steam Guides page to take a look at the over 1,000 guides already created.

As part of SOE's focus on factoring player proposals into PlanetSide 2's major updates, the PlanetSide 2 Reddit group's Community Design Meeting draws suggestions and feedback directly from players for direct submission to SOE. As PlanetSide 2 Creative Director Matt Higby stated: "I see our role on the development team as curators of the game, not necessarily the wellspring of all ideas."

The first topic under discussion involves possible improvements for metagame mechanics such as base capture bonuses, territory control, and experience points. Participants can share their thoughts through video, text, or audio formats. Tagging your post with adds it to the voting pool, and the five highest-rated ideas will get direct responses from Higby and Senior Art Director Tramell Isaac on January 26 at 12pm PST. The talk will take place on the Azure Twilight outfit's Twitch stream.

I'm pleased to see another method for community input on PlanetSide 2's finer design tweaks. Some of the advice put forth so far sounds quite interesting, so be sure to check out Reddit's PlanetSide 2 page to see the outlines.