The Best of Big Download: November 30 - December 6

by Joystiq Staff @joystiq on Dec 6th 2009 11:59PM

We may be running out of 2009, but there was still a ton to report and talk about in PC gaming in the last week. Let's check out the big stories from the past seven days at Big Download:

Exclusive Features

PC Game Multiplayer Holiday Gift Guide: Check out some gift ideas from Big Download from the current year and also some budget titles from past years that are still available.
Left 4 Dead 2 Game Guide: Check out the last two campaign guides for Valve's zombie shooter (Flood of Hard Rain and Flee The Parish). Plus go back and check earlier entries in the series.
R.U.S.E muliplayer hands-on: We check out the multiplayer beta test for the upcoming and different WWII RTS game from Eugen and Ubisoft.
Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena: 10 Years Later: We look back at the release of two of the most influential multiplayer shooters of all time.
The Wake of Guybrush Threepwood: Is the hero of the Monkey Island series really dead? We try to find out in this preview of the fifth and final chapter of Telltale's downloadable adventure series.
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter Review: We give our final verdict to Croteam's FPS graphical remake.
The Top 10 PC Game News Stories For November 2009: We give our picks for the biggest PC game news stories for last month.
The State of Mac Gaming - Part 2: We continue our look at the current stats of games on the Mac platform in this second part of a four part series.
Big Ideas: Our regular look at game thmese continues with an examination of death in games and possible alternatives.
All You Need To Know: We give you the 411 on Ubisoft's upcoming stealth action game Splinter Cell Conviction.
Freeware Friday: Our look at free PC games checks out the indie game title Probability O.
Contests: You still have time to enter our Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter giveaway and check with Big Download next week for even more giveaway contests.

Downloads

Dirt 2 demo: Check out the PC demo (with support for DirectX11) of Codemasters' racing game.
Need For Speed Shift 1.02 patch: Download this latest update for EA's racing game that adds new cars and the new Team Racing mode.
Guild Wars 2 Races Video: Check out the races in ArenaNet's upcoming MMO.
Mass Effect 2 Samara Trailer: Check out this willing new addition to BioWare's upcoming sci-fi RPG.
Star Trek Online Fleet Action trailer: Check out gameplay footage showing huge starship battles in Cryptic's upcoming MMO.
Brink Trailers: Check out part one, part two and part three of this developer walkthrough of the upcoming FPS from Splash Damage.