The Best Of Big Download: May 8 - May 15, 2008
by John Callaham 
{ May 15th 2008 at 7:30PM }
Howdy folks! I'm John Callaham, one of the lead writers at the new Big Download site. As some of you may know we had a "soft launch" last week for both the main site and the related Joystiq-powered news blog that's dedicated to all things PC gaming. We are still in beta mode, so that means we are in the process of squashing a few remaining bugs, but we are making great progress in that area. Despite our "beta" status, we ran a ton of terrific original features this week, and as we get ready for our full blown "hard launch" you can expect even more original features and exclusive news from Big Download. In the meantime here are our highlights for our debut week:
Exclusive features:
Exclusive features:
- PvP vs PvE: Blizzard on World of Warcraft: Big Download chats exclusively with Blizzard team members on their plans for tournament play features in World of Warcraft.
- In-Depth: Galactic Civilizations 2: Twilight of the Arnor: It's our detailed look at Stardock's just released second expansion to their hit space strategy game.
- Guide to Team Fortress 2 Medic Achievements: Check out the first four parts of our extensive look at the various achievements for the Medic class in Valve's multiplayer shooter. Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four
- Casually Speaking: Evolving the casual game: Our first entry in our new weekly look at casual games asks the question, "What is a casual game, anyway?"
- Freeware Friday: Cave Story: Our weekly look at free games for the PC checks out an unusual title made by one Japanese man that our columist calls "quite possibly the best freeware game of all time."
Downloads:
- Lego Indiana Jones Demo: Check out the first part of the upcoming family friendly action game from Traveller's Tales and LucasArts.
- World of Warcraft 2.4.2 Patch: The latest patch for the hugely popular Blizzard MMO is now available.
- GRID Demo: Try out a portion of Codemasters' upcoming racing sim game.
- Rainbow Six Vegas 2 1.02 Patch: Ubisoft's hit tactical shooter gets new voice support and KillCam!
- Assassin's Creed 1.01 Patch: The first patch for the PC version of Ubisoft's hit stealth action game is available.
- Portal Demo now free for all gamers
- Everyday Shooter blasts onto Steam
- Burnout Paradise smashing into PCs
- EA blinks: Mass Effect to remove 10 day Internet registration
- BlizzCon 2008 announced for Oct. 10-11
- Max Payne fan film "foxed" by Fox
- EA CEO: PC gaming shifting from box sales to online revenues
- Valve listed as new E3 2008 exhibitor
- Microsoft: No Alan Wake release date yet
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
The Tim @ May 15th 2008 7:48PM
Is it just me, or does the strange-looking character in the "BIG DOWNLOAD" logo bear a striking resemblance to Strong Sad?
Korova @ May 16th 2008 7:27AM
Second!
Haggard @ May 16th 2008 8:03AM
I think my main beef with Big Download (as a PC gamer) is that the news and stuff on it seems to come second. While it's always nice to download something, game trailers are easier to find on gametrailers.com and I generally don't get demos unless I'm really interested in the game, in which case I'd be googling it.
I think it'd be more appealing if a joystiq style blog was on one side of the screen with the latest PC news stories, and a pane on the side detailing the 'hot downloads'.