Happy 4th of July

Section 8 beta

The official site is here, and IGN has a preview here (from January 21, 2009). IUN readers have already seen the trailer, but I'll post it again for your convenience:



Fileplanet download link (available in the US and Canada only). Note that if you have a lower-end system, you may not be able to get a beta key.

20 games for $54

From Steam News:

You can now get 20 of 2K Games top-selling games for one awesome price with the 2K HUGE GAME PACK. Plus, for a limited time, save an additional 10% off. Hurry, offer ends July 7.

The 2K HUGE GAME PACK includes: Sid Meier's Civilization IV, Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Shattered Union, Prey, CivCity: Rome, Civilization IV: Warlords, Sid Meier's Railroads!, Railroad Tycoon 3, Railroad Tycoon II Platinum, X-COM: Terror From the Deep, X-COM: Apocalypse, BioShock, X-COM: Interceptor, X-COM: UFO Defense, X-COM: Enforcer, Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, Freedom Force, Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization.

You can also get Fallout 3 for 50% off on Steam through the weekend.

Living with FPS syndrome

Splinter Cell: Conviction developer hype

This trailer/dev interview mash-up gives a decent feel for some of the new gameplay mechanics. The "marking" system isn't entirely original (it's reminiscent of the VATS system in Fallout 3), but it could be a nice addition to the series if it's implemented well.

The Demoman reviews America's Army 3

It's on Shack News. As usual, IUN provides the money quote:

Luckily for me, I'm off to a good start in hating the crap out of [AA3] after spending hours just trying to get the damn training missions to run. I won't go into detail on all the technical problems I had, but let's just say I spent a great deal of time stationed at Fort Desktop and logged countless hours in Reboot Camp.

Eventually, a surge of patches and updates allowed me to begin my training.

The rest of the review is here.

DirectX 10 for Windows XP

Release Candidate 2, Fix 3 (pre-final). Download here. I suggest creating a restore point before installation, just to be safe.

I just ran through a couple of L4D maps, and I have to say: the difference is noticeable.

Firefox 3.5 released

All language versions available for download here.

Tweakguides.com has detailed instructions for fully uninstalling older versions of the browser. Certain features may not work correctly if you install 3.5 over an existing installation.

Ars reviews Battlefield: Heroes

Ben Kuchera is not impressed:

Battlefield Heroes is EA's big foray into the world of "free" gaming. "Free" as in you don't have to pay to play the game; anyone with a PC can download the client and get to playing. Reviewing such a game is a little bit different from our usual routine of helping you to spend money well: if you'd like to try it, go right ahead. I can, however, save you from wasting some time. Right now, it seems, things are almost completely broken.

Read more.

Pirate Bay acquired, set to go legit

From Gamasutra:

Embattled file-sharing site The Pirate Bay has been acquired by game networking company Global Gaming Factory for $7.8 million, and will turn the website into a legitimate operation that compensates content providers.

UPDATE: "The Pirate Bay intends to pay users for letting their computers host content as part of a worldwide peer-to-peer network." (So gamesindustry.biz tells me.)

Windows 7 pre-order info

From Tweakguides.com:

Microsoft has announced that there is a heavily discounted price available for Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional Upgrade Editions for US residents who pre-order before 11 July 2009. The pre-order is now officially open, however some things to note:

• These are upgrade editions, which means you need to own a qualifying full version of XP or Vista to install them.
• Every Windows 7 retail box - except Home Basic - comes with both 32-bit and 64-bit install discs.
• Vista users can do a clean install or in-place upgrade, while XP users can only do a clean install.
• If you want to upgrade from a 32-bit version of XP or Vista to a 64-bit version of Windows 7, you need to choose the electronic purchase option and select the x64 download, then burn it to disc and do a clean install.

Update: The offer is also open to Canadian, UK and Japanese residents via participating retailers as detailed here.