Bethesda missed the window on Dawnguard for PC and PS3 players

The summer drought of games is ending soon. Both Darksiders II and Sleeping Dogs release in nearly two weeks, followed up by Transformers: Fall of Cybertron the week after. After that, it’s a cascade of games flowing all the way into December. So when will PC and PlayStation 3 players have the time to play Dawnguard? They won’t.

Dawnguard, the expansion for last year’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, adds additional content and quests along with an entirely new set of vampire-centric powers. Xbox 360 players have enjoyed the new content since June 26 thanks to Bethesda’s deal with Microsoft for a 30-day exclusive on the platform. But 30 days came and west last week, and there still hasn’t been an announcement or reveal of when this expansion will come for the other platforms. To put this in perspective, the last official number of Skyrim copies sold was 10 million, 59% of those the Xbox 360 version, while 27% of copies sold for the PlayStation 3, and 14% for the PC. That leaves 4.1 million potential players waiting for the expansion, during a time when games are slow and the addition to a one of last year’s hits would be welcome.

Will Dawnguard come to the PC and PlayStation 3 at all? It’s up in the air right now. Vice president of PR and marketing at Bethesda Softworks Pete Hines said in a recent twitter post, “We have not announced Dawnguard for any other platform, nor given a timeline for any such news. If we have news, I promise I'd tell you.” So it’s possible it might not something we see anytime soon, but then Bethesda updated the PC version of Skyrim on Steam with patch 1.7, adding a few bug fixes and stability issues. Could this patch be in preparation of Dawnguard? Road signs point to yes as Hines responded to an inquiry on twitter, saying, “Nothing has been said/announced about it. We should have info later this week.”

Even if Bethesda does confirm Dawnguard for PC and PlayStation 3 and gives a release date, it will have missed its mark. Take for example the last Bethesda published title that had an Xbox 360 timed exclusive addon, Fallout: New Vegas. Dead Money released for the Xbox 360 on December 21, 2010 and didn’t show up on the PC or PlayStation 3 until February 22, two months later. If the same rings true for Dawnguard, we’ll already be knee-deep in games vying for our attention.

Harley Quinn’s Revenge Review: More of the same

Harley Quinn’s Revenge picks up two days after the end of Batman: Arkham City. Batman has been missing for two days since investigating the kidnapping of several cops by Harley Quinn and her goons. This sets up for Robin to come in with the help of Oracle to find Batman and find out what went wrong. It’s an interesting premise that allows you to take control of Robin, who we only get a glimpse of in the main storyline of the game.

Gabe Newell speaks up about EA games on Steam

In June, Electronic Arts pulled Crysis 2 from Steam, followed by Alice: Madnress Returns, citing new regulations regarding DLC as the reason. Alice eventually made it back, but Crysis 2 remains absent. Dragon Age 2 disappeared last month as well, just as its newest DLC, Legacy, arrived. Electronic Arts has been pretty vocal over the ongoing on-then-off-then-on-again presence of their games on Steam, but Valve has been quiet on the issue. In an interview with Develop, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell spoke about the cause and how it can be resolved.

“I don’t think Valve can pick just one thing and think the issue would go away if we fixed that,” he said, “We have to show EA it’s a smart decision to have EA games on Steam, and we’re going to try to show them that.”

Newell noted that companies have to earn the right to install content on their customers' PCs on a regular basis, and Steam isn’t any different. “We have to prove we are creating value on an ongoing basis, whether it’s to EA or Ubisoft or whoever. We really want to show there’s a lot of value having EA titles on Steam. We want EA’s games on Steam and we have to show them that’s a smart thing to do.”

He added that Steam is continuing to improve and that those improvements will show companies like Electronic Arts that Steam is a platform where they can grow revenue, “I think at the end of the day we’re going to prove to Electronic Arts they have happier customers, a higher quality service, and will make more money if they have their titles on Steam. It’s our duty to demonstrate that to them. We don’t have a natural right to publish their games.”

Valve is Giving Away Portal 2 DLC this Summer

When downloadable content first began to become prevalent, it was called paid downloadable content. However, the ratio of paid versus free content was so lopsided that the P in the naming scheme was dropped to just DLC.

Valve, in their pattern to go against the grain, is releasing extra content for Portal 2 for free. The downloadable update will be simply titled, Portal 2 DLC #1. Details so far include new test chambers, leaderboards, a challenge mode for single and multi-player modes and more.

Microsoft has been resistant to allow Valve to distribute free content for the Xbox 360 (such is the case of no console updates for Team Fortress 2 after the release of The Orange Box). Normally Valve releases their downloadable content for free for the PC, but Portal 2 DLC #1 will be free for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC this summer, for science.

BioWare Sequel Celebration

Since its release less than two weeks ago, BioWare’s Dragon Age II sold over 2 million copies, and now BioWare wants to reward their fans. Being called the BioWare Sequel Celebration, everyone who purchases a copy of Dragon Age II and activates its online pass by 11:59 PDT on April 30, 2011 will be given code to enter at the BioWare Social Network. The code will enable a free copy of the PC version of Mass Effect 2 through the EA Download Manager.

"Thanks to gamers like you, Dragon Age 2 is off to a great start - breaking the one million mark in less than two weeks and faster than Dragon Age: Origins," BioWare said. "We appreciate your support. As a special thank you for helping with the game's early success, BioWare would like to present you with a download code for 2010's Game of the Year, Mass Effect 2 on PC."

In addition to Mass Effect 2, the code will also grant access to the Cerberus Network, the system Mass Effect 2 uses to distribute its DLC, which includes Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Cerberus Weapon and Armor, Normandy Crash Site, Cerberus Arc Projector, and Firewalker Pack. Be sure to check the site’s FAQ for full details.

More Black Ops Coming in May

An accidental flyer was posted this morning on Game Australia’s website revealing the next map pack for Activision and Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops. Titled Escalation, the map pack will be released on May 3 according to the flyer. An Xbox Live banner is also shown, hinting that it will be hitting Microsoft’s platform first, similar to the first map pack, First Strike. The flyer has since been pulled from the website, but you can see a picture of it below.

DLC Dating

Call of Duty: Black Ops: First Strike for the PC

The first DLC map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, First Strike, was released for Xbox 360 over a month ago. On March 3rd, it was released for the PlayStation 3. On March 25th, it will finally be released for the PC. The announcement was tweeted by Treyarch’s Community Manager Josh Olin this morning. You can pre-order the map pack on Steam now. First Strike will sell for Activision’s standard price of $15, but if you pre-order, you can save 10% and grab the four new multiplayer maps and new zombie mission for $13.49.

They’re Coming Out of the Walls

This whole Infinity Ward v. Activision suit is really getting out of hand. New information seems to be coming from everywhere about who schemed with who. After filing a motion last month to amend its countersuit against Vince Zampella and Jason Wast, former heads of Infinity Ward and now founders of Respawn Entertainment, Activision let loose a bevy of documents today that could prove EA’s indirect involvement in the whole debacle.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Review

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Eidos Interactive/Square Enix
Genre: Action Puzzle Platform
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Platforms: Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, PC (via Steam)

Though not technically part of the Tomb Raider series, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a great example of what can happen when fresh ideas come to a seemingly dead franchise. Available only through download, Guardian of Light takes a detour from the normal experience of Tomb Raider, setting the player in an isometric perspective. High replay value combined with local or online co-operative play makes Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light one of the best Tomb Raider games in recent years.

Pay-Per-Demo and Wannabe Thomas Crown

Pay-Per-Demo
Last week Nick Earl, general manager of EA-owned Dead Space studio Visceral Games, revealed a new strategy that may involve selling "premium downloadable content" before a packaged game's release. According to analyst Michael Pachter, "The PDLC would be sold for $10 or $15 through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, and would essentially be a very long game demo, along the lines of 2009’s Battlefield 1943." Essentially what this does is "limit the risk of completing and marketing the full packaged version, and serves as a low-cost marketing tool," (His words, not mine). Insert slippery slope here. This worries me a gamer because of the implications this could mean. According to David Jaffe, creator of the God of War series, gamers would rather have bite-sized portions they can play for 3-4 hours at a time and see the fruits of their efforts, rather than sit down for a 20, 30, or 40 hour experience (paraphrased). The problem with this line of thinking is that it allows game developers and publishers to cut back on production and instead of giving more to the gamer, the gamer gives more to them. DLC in my opinion is already a bane on the video game industry, as it justifies the developers to hold back or cut parts of a game that were intended to be included in the final packaging, and instead deal them out arbitrarily to garner more money out of the consumer. With this new strategy that EA-company Visceral Games has in mind, the free demos that pushed titles such as Bioshock, Portal, and the recent release of Just Cause 2 (which hit 2 million downloads) could potentially hurt the company and gamers alike. Instead of building word-of-mouth about your game, the companies will push away consumers and box sales will suffer because of it.