Joystiq

PC Gamer releases 90-minute Minecraft demo

Griffin McElroy — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:45:00 EST

If you've been hesitant to drop your dough on the entry fee to Mojang's blockbuster ... block-buster, Minecraft, but you're unsatisfied with the super simplified, free-to-play Minecraft Classic, PC Gamer's willing to give you your first hit at no charge. The site recently uploaded a demo that will allow you to create a world and shape it as you see fit, locking you out after 90 minutes of playtime.

You can keep creating worlds ad infinitum, provided you don't mind the time restraint, though 90 minutes isn't enough time to get much of anything done in Minecraft's cuboid world. Seriously, we've blown an hour and a half on building a mere treehouse. Which we keep in the backyard of our mansion, which took a team of eight contractors two-and-a-half months to complete.

PC Gamer releases 90-minute Minecraft demo originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stardock CEO apologizes for lashing out over Elemental pre-launch criticisms

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:06:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has apologized for statements he made on the Quarter to Three forums, which PC Gamer subsequently referenced as evidence that folks should wait to purchase Elemental: War of Magic.

In the statement to Joystiq, Wardell expressed that after a "lengthy and heated debate" over issues in the pre-launch version of the game, he spoke hastily and says, "As a result, I want to apologize to our fans for speaking so harshly. It should be said that some of the issues in question from the PC Gamer UK article, in fact, did not appear in any of our beta testing. We were surprised by these issues and, after working days on end with little sleep, I was very frustrated. I should not have engaged in an online debate about these issues, as my haste to defend what we feel is a great product only served to hurt the fans who have supported us and the team who has been so dedicated to this project."

The PC Gamer piece urges its readers not to purchase Stardock's latest release. "We've held off from finishing our review because of the launch problems, but felt this warranted an early warning," PC Gamer's Tom Francis says, claiming the launch version of Elemental "on two very different machines with the latest drivers for everything ... crashed or hit a game-breaking bug every ten minutes."

It should be noted that while our staff experienced similar issues in the game's beta version, we never encountered those bugs in the retail copy. A large patch issued last night is said to have fixed the frequent crashes, though it allegedly made tactical battles unplayable.

Additionally, multiplayer servers are said to be running, but the mode won't be turned on until sometime next week due to "team exhaustion," a rep on the game's forums said. "The early release meant a lot of people who were expecting this weekend off to rest from the grueling last few weeks had to come in. So we're going to let them get a couple of days off later this week and open up the MP next week." With that in mind, it may be a few days before another patch arrives for Elemental. We've placed Wardell's full statement to Joystiq after the break, along with a poll asking for players to let us know if they've run into these bugs.

Continue reading Stardock CEO apologizes for lashing out over Elemental pre-launch criticisms

Stardock CEO apologizes for lashing out over Elemental pre-launch criticisms originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UK's PC Zone magazine shutting down after 17 years

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

The UK's first PC gaming magazine, PC Zone, will end its 17-year, 225-issue run in September. Future Publishing is closing the magazine following a "strategic review," which probably had something to do with the magazine's sales of 11,000 copies a month.

Both the BBC and Guardian have full articles on the magazine's demise and legacy. In a statement, Future Publishing stated it will focus its efforts on "market leader" PC Gamer going forward, which has twice the circulation of PC Zone.

UK's PC Zone magazine shutting down after 17 years originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All but one Future publication saw circulation dip in 2009

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:01:00 EST

[Image credit: benben]

Can you guess which of Future Publishing's nine magazines didn't lose readership in 2009? If your money was with Edge, you've got our permission to give yourself a nice big pat on the back. Go ahead, we'll wait. Done? Good. Like we were saying, the UK game mag publisher saw shrinking circulation numbers in 2009 -- the same year that saw the closure of PlayStation World by Future and the shuttering of long-running US gaming mag EGM by Ziff-Davis.

While Edge circulation numbers rose by (a somewhat meager) 109 readers, Games Master dropped by 6,636 (to 34,313), PC Zone by 7,666 (to 11,357), and Xbox World 360 by 5,156 (to 25,874). While those numbers might seem a bit on the low side, that has more to do with the smaller size/population of the UK than anything else (though, of course, dropping readership numbers don't mean good things for any publication house).

According to the GamesIndustry.biz report, Future blames the circulation drops on "slowing sales and ad spend [advertisers spending on print advertising]." We've dropped the entire list of circulation numbers after the break (care of the UK Audit Bureau of Circulations), should you be so inclined to peruse all the stats.

Continue reading All but one Future publication saw circulation dip in 2009

All but one Future publication saw circulation dip in 2009 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Borderlands decides on new 'pretty impressive, even shocking' art style [update]

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:34:00 EST

As we recently reported, Gearbox's Borderlands has been running dark for a while and has now emerged with a whole new art style. The latest issue of PC Gamer apparently has images of the Mad Max simulator's new art direction, which appears to be an illustrative or cel-shaded style -- say goodbye to Borderlands' previous Fallout 3-esque motif.

Gearbox states on its community boards that the change was made to make a more "visually interesting experience." Allegedly, the gameplay hasn't been affected by the new art style -- not that we'd know, considering we've never actually touched the game, which is supposed to come out later this year.

[Via Big Download]

Update: Gearbox Studio head Randy Pitchford has sent out a statement (posted after the break) that the game's art style is not "cel-shaded." We've also learned that web-ready images will hopefully be available for consumption by the internet on Monday, and the game should be on display -- possibly playable -- at E3.

The PC Gamer cover [above; in full after break] features "an in-game screenshot with no post process," giving us an idea of the new art style and rendering tech.

Continue reading Borderlands decides on new 'pretty impressive, even shocking' art style [update]

Borderlands decides on new 'pretty impressive, even shocking' art style [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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