The popular Just Cause 2 Multiplayer mod has received a significant update, overhauling the main menu, adding Steam Achievements and a lot more.
The update, version 0.2, is in public beta and adds new features as well as fixes a lot of bugs. New features include being able to script NPC characters and render inside the world. Examples of usable scripts on the mod's website include those for the wingsuit, for companions, for claymore mines and more. It sounds like there's been a lot of work done to improving server and client communication and performance too. There's a full list of changes on that website.
If you want to help test version 0.2 before it's generally released, opt in to the public beta branch on Steam's Betas tab. "Do not switch to this branch unless you are willing to actively help find issues and prepare your scripts for the release," the team warned. "If you don't know how to switch to the branch, we advise you wait for the official release." If you do switch, you won't be able to use servers running mod version 0.1.5. To switch back, opt out of betas again.
D.B. Cooper: not his real name. Not even his real fake name, which was Dan Cooper up until the point that the news media mangled it. Cooper's claim to fame - and it is not inconsiderable - is that in 1971 he boarded a commercial jet bound for Seattle, told the cabin crew he had a bomb in his briefcase, and successfully extorted $200,000 from the airline. That's over a million in today's money. Landing at Seattle he collected the cash and four parachutes he had asked for, let the passengers go, and asked the pilots to spin the engines up again and point the plane back the way it came. Half an hour later, he jumped out and has never being heard from since.
How clever of Sony to start the PlayStation Summer Sale when the weather outside is s***. Even the promo-man pictured on the PlayStation blog wears a rain snorkel.
Just Cause 2 is an exhilarating and chaotic sandbox action game: you play a secret agent whose main skills are the ability to grapple two objects together with a magical wristbow and spawn an infinity of parachutes. The game's set on the island of Panau, a place of disasters and pinwheeling hilarity where a single, seemingly insignificant mistake can have ludicrous and explosive consequences. The whole thing's glorious and exhausting and ultimately perhaps a little bit hollow. Over the last few weeks, I've been told that the recent fan-made multiplayer mod - standard Just Cause 2 is resolutely single-player - is even more extreme in all these aspects. I had to see it for myself.
Just Cause 2 was secretly the best open world game of the last generation, and thanks to some enterprising modders it's just got even better. By swapping out all the NPCs and single-player objectives with real people, the mod - which has just come to PC - makes the most of the amazing sandbox that Avalanche created in Panau Island. It's messy, brilliant fun.
Mixed opinions on the complex issue of second-hand sales.
Microsoft's stunning U-turn on its controversial Xbox One policies has delighted gamers and retailers - but are developers and publishers just as happy?
Sony has announced that both Just Cause 2 and Borderlands are free for PlayStation Plus subscribers until 7th November, while all DLC for both titles is half off for the remainder of the month.
Last week we wrote about a ridonkulous 600-plus player multiplayer mod for Avalanche's sandbox playground Just Cause 2 and this weekend it's going into open beta.
Starting at 8 a.m. GMT Saturday, the test period will last 48 hours, according to the mod's official forums. It will run on the new 0.0.4 version of the JC2-MP beta client, which includes the following features:
"DLC is not needed to keep players engaged if the game is well executed."
The developer of superb open world blow 'em up Just Cause 2 has questioned "crap" downloadable content and forced multiplayer as a way to keep people playing games.
Amid claims the traditional console business is on its last legs and reports about the power of the next Xbox and PlayStation 4, the boss of Avalanche Studios, the developer of the Just Cause series, has warned better looking games on next generation consoles "won't save the game industry".
I had a friend who had synaesthesia. Sounds would form a iridescent fog over her vision, with different sounds creating different colours, and multiple sounds layering over one another; blue could be shot through with silver, or pockets of red would flare in a brown malaise. Most of the time, she said it was actually quite pleasant, as though she was seeing an extra layer to sound that was unique to her. Most of the time, it made her feel special.
Sometimes, when there was too much sound, or too many that conflicted, it would overwhelm. It would make it difficult to see, and difficult to think, with this violent storm of colour covering everything. It was only at those times that she ever claimed to 'suffer' from synaesthesia.
Proteus, a procedural exploration game by Ed Key, doesn't let you see what you hear. It lets you hear what you see.
Work on a third installment in Avalanche Studios' Just Cause series is underway, with the finished game due out some time next year, so says Xbox World magazine sources.
Swedish developer Avalanche Studios has just announced a downloadable PC, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network game called Renegade Ops – its first foray into the digital download space. But does this mean the company has turned its back on big budget games?
Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios will announce its closely guarded PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade project in a month, Eurogamer can reveal.
A first generation game on Xbox 360, Avalanche Studios' 2006 vintage Just Cause exhibited impressive open world technology let down by somewhat repetitive gameplay. Fast forward three-and-a-half years and the sequel is with us, improved in all areas, bursting with "content" and simply joyous to play. On top of that, it's no longer console exclusive on Xbox 360. There's a PlayStation 3 rendition too, complete with its own unique features.
In the rush before GDC we had just enough time to take a quick look at the Xbox 360 and PS3 demos, but a longer, deeper look at the full retail versions of both games reveals a range of differences between the two versions, which we'll examine in greater depth in this piece. Lest we forget, there's also a PC version too, with Avalanche keen to show that they're taking the platform seriously with an implementation of the new Just Cause engine that scales impressively to accommodate base-level gaming rigs all the way up to i7-powered multi-GPU monstrosities.
First things first: it's time to wheel out the usual range of comparison assets. That would be a very nice triple-format comparison gallery (with PC version on max settings, naturally), along with a series of head-to-head vids. Here's the first, featuring Xbox 360 up against the PlayStation 3. Note that there may be small lighting and cloud-cover variations owing to the time-of-day system the game employs.
Eurogamer readers quiz game director Magnus Nedfors. Just cause.
Yesterday we asked whether you had any questions for Just Cause 2 game director Magnus Nedfors. It turns out you did, so we asked them, and with the game out today it seems logical to present you the answers. Nedfors talks about fans nearly making him cry, downloadable content, patches and just about everything else you lot could think up to quiz him about. Don't forget Eurogamer's Just Cause 2 review while you're at it.
Rico Rodriguez stands, head in the clouds, 1200 feet above sea level. The Southeast Asian island of Panau shimmers far below, a colourful patchwork quilt of diverse terrain, all couched within a Sonic-blue ocean upon whose surface ten thousand pricks of sunlight wink lazy. There's no time to fully take in this National Geographic photo spread of a vista, however. In twenty seconds a helicopter gunship will tear bullet holes through the cirrus wisp and silence - a problem when your feet are planted on two giant zeppelins' worth of compressed gas.
The twin 40-foot balloons are arranged side-by-side to look, from the ground, every bit like a gigantic pair of floating breasts. Beneath them hangs Just Cause 2's most recognisable skymark and seedy dance venue, the Mile High Club, a heaving celebration of juvenility and business ventures birthed on the strength of a pun.
Ten minutes earlier, Rodriguez leaped from a stolen jet at 1400 feet before falling 200 and latching a grappling hook into the airship's side and swinging overboard, the only way to gain entry to this most exclusive of videogaming's erotic venues. Five minutes earlier, Rodriguez skulked through its neon-lit belly, taking a moment to enjoy the dancers gyrating on tabletops, and to scout out the position of every barman polishing a hidden shotgun in between serving daiquiris.
Avalanche Studios has told Eurogamer that although "a lot" of Just Cause 2 DLC is planned, you will have enough on your plate wading through the extra content after the 15 to 20 hour main campaign has finished.
Whether or not Just Cause 2 protagonist Rico Rodriguez succeeds in tearing down the political machine of Pandak "Baby" Panay, who rules the fictional island nation of Panau with a clunking fist and silly name, he will at least succeed in one regard. The most conspicuous CIA agent since the agency's short-lived and ill-fated spell under the control of Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar, Rico will have built an anecdote machine to rival any other.
The demo put through its considerable paces on PS3 and Xbox 360.
Just Cause 2 is a game that pushes all the right buttons for us here at Digital Foundry. Proprietary engine? Check. Scandinavian developer? Check. Colossal open world? Ingenius physics-based gameplay? Epoch-making pyrotechnics? Check, check, check!
You never forget the moment you fall in love. Whether it's when your heart turns over inside you while she completes that Back to the Future quote you just started, or as your eyes meet across the arena at the local Demolition Derby, it's a memory that will stick with you until the very end.
Square Enix Eidos Taito And Friends has announced that people who pre-order Just Cause 2 will be rewarded with various bonus treats, including a foldout map of the island of Panau where the game is set.
Building an openworld game around the concept of chaos is a super-smart idea. Chaos is the reason a lot of people play these sorts of things in the first place, but at best, games often make you hunt for your precious moments of anarchy within rigid mission templates, or, at worst, you're actually punished for going bonkers with a rocket launcher. It's a bit like turning up at Disneyland and being told that the rides are all brilliant, but they're being kept underwater at the bottom of a poisoned lake, and if you want to try them out you'll have to fight an orang-utan first.
Eidos life president Ian Livingstone reckons publishers will need to go big this year or be forced to go home, as there is "no room for mediocrity" at the table.
"Just Cause 2 is bigger and better than Just Cause 1 in pretty much every way possible," says lead designer Peter Johansson, beginning our E3 demo of the game. No offence, Peter, but they all say that. Besides, Just Cause 1 was pretty big anyway - though as Kristan pointed out in his review, it wasn't the best game it could have been.
If people like your game's basic mechanics, you might be onto a winner; if people like your game's bugs, you can't fail. Avalanche Studios should know: its first title, Just Cause, had some of the most likable glitches of all time, from an error which reduced the game's protagonist to a pair of invulnerable disembodied trousers, to supply drops which, when called in, would land directly on top of you.
Avalanche Studios is preparing to lay off 77 of its 160 staff due to losing two publishing contracts this year, worth around USD 34 million (EUR 27.2 million), GamesIndustry.biz reports.
Eidos has confirmed four titles it plans to show off at E3 next month.
Topping the bill is Tomb Raider: Underworld, in which Lara gets some fancy new moves and an army of new enemies to battle.
Then there's Just Cause 2, the sequel to the 2006 action game. Hopefully it'll improve over Just Cause 1, or as it's otherwise known Just Cause 6/10. Like Underworld, it's on the way for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Avalanche Studios has revealed lots of fresh details about forthcoming PS3 and Xbox 360 title Just Cause 2.
As reported by IGN, the bulk of the changes are the result of feedback from gamers. Gone are the bloated side-missions and sterile areas; instead there's an inventive chaos system that helps numerous factions across the island to grow.
Simply pinch some military vehicles or shoot a noted soldier and let the carnage begin. Improve your standing with a powerful faction enough and you could even wield enough fire power to attack a government stronghold.
Eidos' parent company SCi has revealed that work on a new Battlestations: Midway game is underway.
"After the period end, in February 2007, we released Battlestations Midway on PC and Xbox 360. This product immediately entered the UK charts at No1 in both the Xbox 360 and All Formats charts," a bit of their latest statement reads. "We are continuing to build this franchise and have a sequel in development."
Unfortunately Eidos was unable to clarify any further details to Eurogamer this morning, but we expect it will be available on PC, Xbox 360 and possibly PS3 and maybe even Gizmondo sometime in 2008. Or 2009, 2010 or 2011.
A second Just Cause game is in development, Eidos has confirmed in a financial statement today.
"We now expect Just Cause to sell over one million units in the current financial year. The sequel to Just Cause is in development."
The action sequel will be joined by new games in the long-running Tomb Raider, Hitman, and Championship Manager franchises, "plus new IPs including Kane & Lynch and Crossfire," said the company.
