Beta sign-ups are going on via f1onlinethegame.com.

Track information, car data and other such ‘stuff’ is coming from the console & PC versions of F1 2012, so this will be a fully featured F1 title.

Grand Prix events, home-crafted teams (with your own livery etc.) and leaderboards will be a big part of the community features.

Check out the trailer below!

Enjoy!

PAYDAY: THE HEIST

Platforms: PlayStation®3 and PC
Price: TBD

PAYDAY: The Heist is an action filled first person shooter game for the PlayStation®Network and PC that lets players take on the role of a hardened career criminal executing intense, dynamic heists in constant pursuit of the next “big score”. Navigate diverse urban settings with three partners in crime—controlled by either AI or your best buddies in co-op multiplayer. Load out with an array of weaponry and equipment as you embark on a spectacular crime spree through six high-stake heists, including banks robberies, prisoner extractions and armoured car hijackings.
Time for a PAYDAY – so don your masks and launch the heist!

KEY FEATURES
Six High-Intensity Heists: Whether you’re blowing the roof off a building to extract a safe via helicopter or emptying the vault at the First World Bank, these action-packed heists will have players on edge and always checking their six.

Interactive Co-op Gameplay: Whether AI or live, your crew of four must operate as one to bring get the “big score.” Sharing extra ammo and med kits, helping regen wounded partners, guarding key positions, taking civilian hostages or cracking through various security measures — it’s all for one and one for all.

Endless Replayability: Dynamic environments, adaptive enemy behaviour, shifting entry points, FBI agents repelling down on ropes through the skylights, SWAT teams crashing through the windows and special units crawling through the ventilation shafts makes each play-through of every heist a unique fight.

Massive Character Progression Tree: Players choose a specialty — assault, sharpshooter or support — to gain weapons and equipment that fit their preferred form of violence. Unlock trip mines, silenced pistols, machine guns and much, much more.

Shout Out Button: Players need to be vocal and shout commands and directions to the co-op crew, as well as hostages and the police if they want to survive to spend their cut of the take.

Hostage Trading: Hostages can be a lifeline. If anyone in the crew is taken into custody, trade hostages to get crew members back and increase the odds of completing your objectives.

PlayStation® or PC: For keyboard and mouse marksman, as well as handheld controller snipers, PAYDAY is the uber-FPS for a high intensity shooter fix.

More DLC: Additional heists, weapons and equipment means PAYDAY — a digitally distributed AAA quality title for less than half the price of a retail game — is total OVERKILL.

DC UNIVERSE ONLINE WANTS YOU
FOR THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS!

The first Downloadable Content (DLC) pack for DC Universe Online (DCUO), “Fight for the Light.” Featuring DC Comics favourite The Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and the introduction of the game’s seventh power set – Light, the new downloadable content will be available this summer for both PC and PlayStation 3.

“The Green Lantern has been a mainstay for DC Comics fans for more than 60 years, and is a fan favourite among our players,” said Mark Anderson, Game Director of DC Universe Online. “We’ve listened to the feedback, and fans can now create their own Lantern-inspired characters including the use of light powers.”

In addition to the new light power set, players will also be able to interact with Green Lantern based characters and content in DC Universe Online in these all-new gameplay scenarios:

S.T.A.R. Labs – Deep within S.T.A.R Labs, Brainiac seeks to control experimental devices that will allow him to harness the power source behind the Lantern Corps’ rings. This attack throws the Lantern Corps into chaos, and players must join a fragile truce between the Green and Yellow Lantern Corps to bring the powerful devices back under STAR Labs control.

Coast City – Players must battle their way through the “City Without Fear” to Ferris Aircraft, the home of fighter ace Hal Jordan. Here they face the unbridled rage of the Red Lantern Corps in a showdown to save the city and the Universe.

Sciencells Prison – On the Green Lantern Corp’s home planet Oa, heroes will join with Guy Gardner to stop a prison break that threatens to release the most feared prisoners of the Green Lantern Corps. Villains will fight alongside Sinestro as he attempts to release the Green Lantern Corps’ greatest foes and retrieve the evil Lyssa Drak from her emerald powered prison cell.

Green Lantern offers another exciting superhero for PC and PS3 players to join forces with in their epic battles online, following DCUO’s ongoing combat missions featuring other DC Comics legends such as, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker and Lex Luthor.

DC Universe Online’s “Fight for the Light” DLC pack will be available for download for $9.99 USD (no euro price given) this summer for PC and PlayStation 3 players.

PlanetSide 2

Platforms: PC

GAME DESCRIPTION
PlanetSide 2 takes all the groundbreaking features from the original game – massive multiplayer battles, distinct empires to rally around, and enormous continents where intense ground and air combat unfolds – and adds features that modern gamers have come to expect out of the FPS and MMO genres. With advanced technology, years of gamer feedback, and a new SOE proprietary MMO game engine called Forgelight™, PlanetSide 2 offers a truly competitive and visceral FPS experience with massive warfare, massive customization and massive community.

Across the continents of Auraxis, thousands of players will come together in enormous battles to win control of critical territories and key resources for their empire. With a an extensive skill tree and free-form class-based system, players will be able to customize their soldier, weapons and vehicles to match their play-style, as well as the needs of their squad, outfit or empire. Battles can last for days or weeks, so players will need to build alliances and specialized combat outfits to take on long-term strategic and tactical initiatives. With air, ground and seaborne combat, the battles will be larger and more intense than ever.

KEY FEATURES:
MASSIVE WARFARE: Battles will take place not between dozens of troops, but hundreds; with air and ground vehicles slugging it out alongside squads of troops. Whether in open fields, tightly-packed urban centers or enormous structures, winning will require strategic teamwork and a quick trigger finger in the massive battles.

THREE EMPIRES: Players will have their choice to join three different empires:

o Terran Republic – With a militaristic government, the Terran Republic uses its Imperial authoritarian might to impel humanity to peaceful coexistence through any means necessary.

o New Conglomerate – A loosely connected group of rebel factions and idealistic freedom fighters, the New Conglomerate fights against the hegemony of the Terran.

o Vanu Sovereignty – A technocratic faction that believes humanity can only evolve by rediscovering and tapping the lost technology of the Vanu.

BATTLE FOR TERRITORIES & RESOURCES: The core gameplay of PlanetSide 2 is about holding key territories and controlling valuable resources. Each battleground holds valuable resources and key positions, and the empire that can conquer (and manage to hold) these territories will be rewarded with fuel bonuses, ammo bonuses, tech bonuses, and more.

PERSISTENCE: In Planetside 2 battles will last longer than a match timer. Battles will last for days or weeks, and finally taking control of the base means it’s yours until someone can take it back. Working strategically as a team to capture key tactical positions such as power plants and ammo depots will have long-lasting effects that can shift the tide of battle.

ENORMOUS MAPS: PlanetSide 2 will launch with several continent maps; every inch of which will be contestable space. With the new territorial control meta-game, landmass will have intrinsic value even without notable installations or major features.

FREE-FORM CLASS-BASED SYSTEM: Players will be able to unlock diverse combat roles by advancing through the skill tree, including several classic roles from PlanetSide. As players unlock new roles, they will be able to switch between them at will.

MISSION SYSTEM: Both SOE and players will be able to drive content, easing new players into the game and allowing veterans to feed content to players.

SKILL TREES: Players will be able to build their soldier to match their play-style, or to match the needs of their squad, outfit or empire. Each combat role, vehicle and weapon will have extensive skill trees. These cert trees will allow players to grow characters laterally, unlocking weapons, attachments, equipment, specialized skills, and more.

OUTFITS: Outfits (guilds) will also be able to customize themselves – allowing outfits to have their own identity, reputation and role in the ongoing war.

WEAPONS: Players will be able to access more than 20 basic weapons, which can be customized to players’ preference or purpose.

VEHICLES: More than 20 vehicles with two unique vehicles per empire. Players will be able to customize each vehicle, unlocking new skills and features

VIVOX INTEGRATION: Players will be able to communicate with their squads both through keyboard and voice chat.

Anyone familiar with Enemy Territory TV will know the guys behind this. They’re hosting a big launch event for, well – the launch of Brink. The two day online launch party will begin tomorrow with round-table discussions & banter, while day two discusses the community and multiplayer aspects of the title.

To find out more & get involved, visit thebrink.tv

Version 1.01 will be a 133MB download which unlocks “community features”, which comes down to accessing PSN and online modes. No word on if this unlock will detect your disk to ensure traded game buyers are locked out yet, though.

The story focuses on a Neverwinter that has faced many great disasters in the last hundred years.

With much of it’s population scattered, different factions are fighting for control of the city and the undead have begun to rise.

Players will be able to choose from five classic D&D classes and team up with other players and computer controlled characters to form five man groups.  Players may also create their own quests and storylines “utilizing an extremely user-friendly content generation system, tentatively codenamed Forge.”

The game is scheduled for release in Q4 2011.

For more information and to learn more about the game and sign up for the newsletter, please visit: www.PlayNeverwinter.com

There are two factions and six classes. Both factions have three different classes to choose from, with each class having their own unique weapons and style of play. The SGC’s three classes are Soldier, Commando and Scientist. The Soldier acts as the main combat class, armed with a P90, Grenade Launcher and Smoke Grenades. The P90 is very accurate at close range and has a 50-round magazine and a high rate of fire but runs out very fast. The Grenade Launcher is powerful but requires a reload after every shot. Smoke Grenades are used to uncover cloaked Ashraks. The Commando acts as the sniper. Equipped with a a Sniper Rifle, .50 Handgun and claymores. He can detect cloaked Ashraks and is very effective at long range kills, however he is very ineffective at close range due to the handguns limited ammo and poor accuracy. The Scientist acts as the support class, armed with a 9mm pistol. Her secondary weapon can be used to heal teammates or poison opposing players, a very good weapon for decloaking Ashraks. She also has a deployable turret and healing dispenser which heals all nearby teammates.

The System Lords three classes are Jaffa, Ashrak and Goa’uld. Jaffa are the System Lords counter to the soldier. Armed with a Staff and Shock Grenades. The Staff is an effective but slow firing weapon that’s good at range and does not require reloading. The Staff can also be used as a melee weapon in close combat where it’s slow rate of fire is ineffective. The Shock Grenades can be used to blind your opponents before attacking. Ashraks are assassins, equipped with an A’tar Blade and Hara’Kesh. The A’tar Blade is the Ashraks main weapon and can instantly kill an opponent when hit in the back. The Hara’Kesh can be used to drain your opponents stamina to stop them from running away from you. Ashraks also posess a device called Reetou Karesh, a cloaking device that grants her the ability to become invisible. The Goa’uld are equipped with the Go’Wye Ribbon Device, which fries his opponents brain and distorts their vision, it can also be used to push back your opponents. Goa’uld are also equipped with a healing device known as a Maaynd Gem. It can be used to heal allies and yourself. Goa’ulds also possess a personal shield, while the shield is activated, only poison and exploses may hurt the Goa’uld.

Developed using the Unreal engine, the game looks visually impressive as you would expect. Particularly impressive is the effect of stepping through the gate, no matter how many times I’ve done it, I’ve yet to tire of seeing it. The lighting and textures look great. The artwork and enviroments look good. Character models are the only let down here, while they do look good, they are not nearly as impressive as the rest of the game.

The sound effects in the game are really good. From the Stargate dialing, to the Jaffa Staff blasts, tt feels as if many of the sound effects have been taken directly from the show itself. The Stargate theme music at the login screen is also a nice touch. The voice acting is minimal at best and what little of it there is, was done poorly.

There is no single player or tutorial of any kind in this game. This is strictly an online only game. However, thanks to the simplistic controls and limited class choices, the game has a very easy learning curve.

The gameplay is the strongest feature of the game. You’ll always be in the thick of the action due to the objectives drawing players from both sides to certain points of the map. The game however quickly becomes repetitive due to the lack of maps and game modes. There are only four maps, Stargate Command, an ice planet called Piramess, an Egyptian temple called Armana and an arena on the planet Leonops. There are also only 5 different game modes to play, Team Death Match(TDM), Capture the Tech(CtT), King of the Hill(KotH), Conquest and Arena. With only two different game modes available on three of the maps, while one map contains only one game mode. Stargate Command has Conquest and TDM, Armana Temple has TDM and KotH, Leonops has TDM and Arena, while Piramess has only CtT. It simply baffles me as to why all game modes are not available on all maps, especially when there are so little maps and game modes to begin with.

Lack of both game modes and maps isn’t my only issue with the game. There is no dedicated server support. In a fast paced shooter, the lack of in-game voice chat made communicating with teammates troublesome, having to constantly stop and type messages leaving yourself vulnerable to attack. Extremely limited character customization I also found to be a problem. Jaffa and Soldier can both unlock an extra outfit, however there is nothing for the remaining four classes. Although an extra outfit for all of the six classes can be purchased. Galactic Domination, which grants buffs to the faction dominating the planets, while it’s a nice feature, I can’t help but feel that the last thing the dominating faction needs is a buff which makes them stronger.

For €15 you could do much worse with your money. The game is fun and addictive, but it just feels incomplete. It feels like you are only getting half a game, with only four maps, restricted game modes and customization options. That being said however, I find myself constantly drawn back for more. The developers are frequently patching the game and with much more content promised, along with a growing player base, I highly recommend this game to Stargate fans. As for those of you that are not Stargate fans, I find it hard to recommend the game to you with the current level of content. I suggest you either hold out for a sale or wait until all the promised content is added.

Stargate Resistance is a PC exclusive, and is available from Steam, Direct2Drive and Firesky.

Advanced Combat Packs are available at Firesky and Direct2Drive.

As a long-time Mac user this news blows my mind in ways I couldn’t even fathom, but Valve have finally seen the white, brushed-steel light and decided that in April, us glorious users of OS X will legitimately get to play Source-enabled games, including the full roster of first-party Valve titles (half life, counter-strike, team fortress et al) and a number of the 1,000 plus third-party titles on the Steam platform.

This opens steam up to a new roster of fans, as well as allowing current fans to carry over their Windows-purchased titles to Mac at no extra cost and continue to interact with their friends via Steam’s excellent social networking features.

In a press release Valve said, “Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac,” said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve. “Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play.”

Portal 2 will be the first title to get a simultaneous release on both platforms. Fitting, given Portal is set in a serenely efficient white world environment.

The game returns with an upgraded destruct-everything-around-you Frostbyte engine that made Bad Company such a compelling game. So compelling, even PC gamers wanted it.

The story revolves around Sarges “last” tour with the military. And what an end to his career it ends up. Moving from the snow to the sun and sand of Bolivia makes for a lush environment to shoot in. Not to say we don’t see snow in this game – it does show up. Add amazing graphics, sound design and the ability to tear down tree’s, towers and buildings and you have a series of epic battles. Each single player level is as open ended as you could possible make a single player campaign. Not ultra linear, but not so open that you get lost and confused.

Your AI team-mates are mostly good, though it would be nice to have the option of playing co-operatively. Having said that, the exchanges between your AI buddies is funny enough to keep you entertained with them alone. The engine is also so well designed that they never seem to get confused themselves, or manage to hurt your gameplay – like Modern Warfare 2 or Killzone 2 did on occasion.

This game is great on it’s own, but it really comes alive in the multiplayer arena. Vehicles, guns and obliterated buildings are the name of the game, all without compromising the amazing graphics or even more amazing sound design. As per usual for BF titles, this is a team-based warfare title based in a series of sandbox areas.

Some new weapons are introduced, but veterans get a chance to import the M1 Garrand and machine gun from Battlefield: 1943. A novel new idea is to include a controllable UAV, which is available on maps as a little control-point you stand at, before taking control of a remote controlled helicopter which can call in air strikes on targets. Incredibly effective… until you’re seen and shot out of the sky.

The usual array of upgrades and special abilities are available here, as is the ability to pick up the kit of fallen team-mates, allowing the play style to change from round-to-round.

If all of this sounds like an exciting array of online action that has been done before, keep in mind this game does what Bad Company 1 didn’t do, and any other console shooter hasn’t achieved yet. PC levels of skill. This game rewards you for being good. DICE themselves said they were surprised at the level of skill console players had on the first iteration of this game, and so upped the “hardcore” for the sequel to craft a game that not only rivals, but beats the hell out of Call of Duty or similar titles in the online warfare stakes.

You see, what this game has that no other game manages to achieve is what has been known since my first introduction to the series, as “Battlefield moments”. Moments that make you laugh, cry and wince all at the same time. Moments created only by a hugely open environment within an engine that actually works properly.

Exhibit A: A squad enters a room in a fairly destroyed building to plant charges on the objective. The timer counts down to the charges exploding, and thus winning the round for the team. Everyone clears the area and stands away from the building, allowing the enemies to enter. However, the four corners of the building are rigged with more C4 then American troops can shake a WMD at. As soon as the enemy troops, 9 of them, enter the room the C4 is triggered, killing most of them in the blast, but taking out the rest (and the objective) by collapsing the building in on itself.

Exhibit B (from singleplayer – not a spoiler but you may not want to watch it yet):

Yes, that was a dig at Modern Warfare 2.

Exhibit C (warning, foul language):

Even friendly fire is funny…

Exhibit D (from single player, slight spoiler):

The greatest thing he’s ever seen…

And a final, BF Moment:

So as you can see, this game is epic. Very epic. Far more depth lies here then in its closest rivals, and it’s not afraid to have a dig at the rivals, either. Which is refreshing. A fun, excellent experience every single time you boot it up. Undoubtedly, this title will suck the life out of you and tear you from loved ones. For MW2 to keep up pace with this, it’ll require a new piece of DLC every single week. Which just won’t happen. By comparison, MW2 feels pedestrian, MAG feels buggy and Killzone/Halo lack the epic feeling.

Buy this game. And buy it new. Second hand purchases miss out on a “VIP” code which entitles you to extra goodies, free.