It's just a commercial

But it's a damned excellent commercial:

Metro 2033 interview and specs

VG247 scored an interview with Metro 2033's producer, Huw Beynon, and the author of the book that inspired the game, Dmitry Glukhovsky.  It's an interesting read, especially if you're into games with more developed narratives.

And now, the specs:

Minimum:

Dual core CPU (any Core 2 Duo or better will do)
DirectX 9, Shader Model 3 compliant graphics cards (GeForce 8800, GeForce GT220 and above)
1GB RAM

Recommended:

Any Quad Core or 3.0+ GHz Dual Core CPU
DirectX 10 compliant graphics card (GeForce GTX 260 and above)
2GB RAM

Optimum:

Core i7 CPU
NVIDIA DirectX 11 compliant graphics card (GeForce GTX 480 and 470)
As much RAM as possible (8GB+)
Fast HDD or SSD
Enabling 3D Vision

Metro 2033 utilizes NVIDIA 3D Vision with compatible cards and hardware. To play in 3D you will require:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 and above recommended
A 120Hz (or above) monitor
NVIDIA 3D Vision kit
Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows 7

The BC2 beta has ended

From EA's UK forums:

As you know, the BETA of Bad Company 2 has now ended. The game servers are now being shut down and EA is changing over to the retail version of the game in time for launch of the game on the 2nd/4th/5th March depending on where you are.

We picked up a lot of useful information from you all and managed to fix a number of issues and gave us other issues to look at before launch. Development of Bad Company 2 PC will still go ahead at full speed to sort out remaining issues and implement some of your requests where possible.

We hope you enjoyed what you had available to you and that you are all looking forward to the launch.

Thanks from everyone here at DICE for your participation.

BC2 day-one map pack

Thanks to Moto'freak for the heads-up on this vid.

BC2 "PC walkthrough" trailer

Any look at a map other than Port Valdez is so very welcome:

Remembering MW2

The pacing is all wrong, but it's still pretty funny:

In case you hadn't noticed yet

Valve disabled "vocalize" commands in L4D2.  From aperturegames:

The latest Steam update has removed a feature in Left 4 Dead 2 that allowed gamers to bind keys to in game vocalisations that are essentially soundbites from the characters.

These ranged from random one liners to useful shortcuts to warn of incoming enemies. Essentially, the system can be used for both useful gameplay – especially for gamers who don’t wish to use a mic – and for spamming.

The community seems quite split in whether or not disabling these commands has been a good thing. Many people think that removing features is unnecessary as you can already vote to kick people out of games, while others seem very happy that people can’t spam these audio files anymore.

Either way, it’s quite rare for Valve to remove a feature in a game, no matter how controversial. We’re surprised the company didn’t just offer increased server settings or the option for individual players to turn ‘vocalize’ commands off through the audio settings.

There are currently petitions available on the Left 4 Dead 2 Steam forum for both sides of the argument.

I think I'll miss hearing Coach scream "Get in the elevator!" near the barge on SF1.

A truly visceral experience

Due out this week:

Mass Effect 2 patch 1.01

Note on the Steam version: if you've restarted Steam in the last 24 hours, you already have it.  

Full list of fixes below the fold

BioShock 2 patch out tommorrow

From 2K:

Our next BioShock 2 PC Patch is due out tomorrow. You'll be able to download the patch starting at 2 AM PST on Tuesday, February 23rd. This patch is small because we focused on getting it out quickly to fix a couple high priority issues the community had, rather than roll them in to a larger patch that would take longer to reach you. We are working on a larger, more extensive patch now and as testing nears finalization I'll update you on that patch's download date.

Bioshock 2 Patch List
- Fixed an issue where 16:9 and 16:10 resolutions were letterboxed versions of 4:3 resolutions, thereby properly fixing the FOV by expanding the horizontal player view as intended.
- Fixed an issue where holding the M1 button would not register in Multiplayer gameplay.

ASIDE:  I haven't met anyone yet that was really amped for BS2's multiplayer, but if you're out there, be warned - it's matchmaking only ... there are no dedicated servers.

So, about the combat knife

It might be a little overpowered: