By Jim Rossignol on June 1st, 2011 at 9:04 am.
UPDATE: This is out some time “this month” rather than “this week”. Sorry about that.
Ah, while we’re over at Besthesda blog, there are also some details on Brink’s forthcoming DLC which raises the level cap, adds new maps, and a bunch of other stuff including a “Sad Punk” outfit. I’ve posted the rest of the details below, just in case you are scared of going to other, lesser websites. You’re right to be scared. We’re not like the others.
Anyway, the DLC should be out this week. Relatedly: Brink is still not available on Steam in the UK, for some reason. Why is that? We just don’t know. I’ve asked Bethesda for an answer, and I’ll update this if/when we get one.
New Maps
Founders’ Tower – The revolution finally reaches the island’s iconic spire and takes the battle for the Ark to dizzying heights.
Labs – Venture into the depths of the Ark’s original research and development laboratories, a submerged high-tech facility so far untouched by the civil war.New Player Abilities
UAV – This stealthy and lethal device allows Operatives to automatically mark nearby enemies on their radar. For more explosive fun, they can even take direct control of the UAV and detonate it near unsuspecting foes.
Napalm Grenade – Soldiers can use this new grenade to cover an area in a sea of deadly flames.
Pyro Mine – Engineers can plant these mines and leave enemies in the epicenter of a massive napalm explosion.
Field Regen Unit – Medics can deploy these units to increase the health regeneration of any nearby teammates.
Tactical Scanner – This universal ability allows players to reveal the active buffs of their opponents, allowing them to pick off enemies more strategically.New Weapon Attachments
Bayonets – Gain the edge in melee combat and cause extra damage with these deadly blades.
Weapon Shields – Take cover from enemy fire and prevent headshot bonus damage behind riot-style shields.New Character Outfits
The Sad Punk – Add a touch of Steampunk to your Resistance character.
The Limey – Bring order to the Ark with this outfit inspired by traditional European police.
01/06/2011 at 09:20 Inigo says:
That’s the most indifferent looking gunshot victim I’ve ever seen.
01/06/2011 at 09:29 Mashakosha says:
My expression is augmented.
01/06/2011 at 09:29 Alexander Norris says:
He’s actually not a gunshot victim but a man about to plank.
01/06/2011 at 12:41 whateverJ says:
It’s okay, a medic is nearby.
01/06/2011 at 14:08 Mr_Initials says:
“What? Your shooting at me now? God you are so immature. I’m leaving”
01/06/2011 at 09:22 N says:
Jesus this game is so boring. I’ve played it at a friends for about an hour or so then went home and played BC2 lol.
It has a ton of guns though, I’ll give it that.
01/06/2011 at 10:01 Gnoupi says:
Personally, I have difficulties playing other shooter games after Brink.
I miss jumping, climbing, and sliding around.
01/06/2011 at 10:20 Sinomatic says:
I’ll second that, I desperately miss the maneuverability in other FPS. They feel a little lacking without it now.
01/06/2011 at 12:08 Xercies says:
Probably one of the most fun multiplayer shooters i have ever played, it feels so cool finding areas to jump around on and getting behind the enemy killing one of them and then getting seriously killed by the rest of the team.
01/06/2011 at 12:19 Bilbo says:
I find BC2 unconscionably dull, and love Brink. Shame the launch is a bit buggered in the UK by the steam thing.
01/06/2011 at 09:25 Harley Turan says:
Please do update us with an answer to the Steam question. Is it available elsewhere in Europe?
01/06/2011 at 10:15 wyldbeast says:
It’s available in the Netherlands.
01/06/2011 at 10:40 Snesso says:
Its also available in Italy
01/06/2011 at 11:05 CelticPixel says:
I’m in the UK and I’ve got Brink on Steam. I pre-ordered – don’t know if that would make any difference?
01/06/2011 at 11:27 subedii says:
It would. Basically the game disappeared from the Steam store on the day of release, like literally a few hours into the release day you couldn’t buy it any more. If you pre-ordered it before it vanished though, you were set.
Nobody really knows why, especially considering that it’s still available in UK stores.
01/06/2011 at 11:53 shaydeeadi says:
Lots of other digital stores still sell it to us Brits and give you a Steam key, weyyyyyyyyy.
01/06/2011 at 09:27 WMain00 says:
Anyway, the DLC should be out this week. Relatedly: Brink is still not available on Steam in the UK, for some reason. Why is that? We just don’t know. I’ve asked Bethesda for an answer, and I’ll update this if/when we get one.
I may be able to answer that. The rumour is that GAME stores in the UK have an exclusivity deal with Bethesda that stops Steam being able to sell it until the deal ends.
01/06/2011 at 09:31 Mashakosha says:
If this is true then, in all honesty, it’s bullshit. Surely a hard copy store shouldn’t be able to lock out a digital download service, even if it is just in the UK. And more to the point, how can Game afford to do that? Last I heard they were going downhill.
01/06/2011 at 09:49 Crimsoneer says:
Yeah, there was some talk of GAME having issues with pre-order codes or some such. Still, it’s ridiculous. Somebody really should look into it.
01/06/2011 at 09:52 jon_hill987 says:
Well if that is true I hope their unmarked brown envelopes put them out of business. If GAME want to compete with Steam all they have to do is sell the games cheaper (not hard as Steam sells at the RRP apart from pre-release discounts or sales) and people will buy from them.
01/06/2011 at 18:46 thegooseking says:
It’s especially weird given that the game requires Steam anyway.
Ominously, my DVD case says “NOT FOR SUPPLY IN THE UK” on the back, but the key still registered on Steam as Brink (UK), so I’m going to assume that’s for some reason normal.
01/06/2011 at 09:45 Alexander Norris says:
Also: for some odd reason, the RSS links now take me direct to the comment section.
01/06/2011 at 11:41 Nova says:
It’s the same from the main page.
01/06/2011 at 09:51 Branthog says:
I’ve been playing since launch and I have yet to encounter a game that is not at least 50% bots.
01/06/2011 at 10:02 Gnoupi says:
In Freeplay, make sure you don’t choose “campaign” servers with 8 slots. Those are usually humans vs bots games.
Play on the RPS server instead: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/05/19/play-on-rps-passworded-brink-servers/
01/06/2011 at 10:50 Calneon says:
Play freeplay not campaign.
01/06/2011 at 16:00 Snargelfargen says:
Also it helps if you set the player filter to 13-14 or 5-6. That way you only get matches missing several humans and no servers that are kept artificially full with bots.
01/06/2011 at 10:56 clownst0pper says:
I really love Brink; I just put my review up over on Tap-Repeatedly.com as well.
I couldn’t agree more about the movement, Bad Company 2 just feels terrible without the ability to mantle and slide. And DICE came up with Mirrors Edge!
01/06/2011 at 11:01 tomeoftom says:
That screenshot bears not a sad punk but an unlucky, punk.
01/06/2011 at 11:04 SpinalJack says:
I preordered Brink on Steam and it unlocked on day one. Dunno why it might not be available now…
01/06/2011 at 11:11 gorgol says:
DLC that raises the level cap? Doesn’t that mean its DLC you have to get in order to stay competitive? That’s disgraceful. I’m glad I never got excited or gave a crap about this game.
01/06/2011 at 11:27 Tony M says:
The DLC is free. So now you can be sad that you never got excited or gave a crap about this game.
01/06/2011 at 11:31 subedii says:
Nice to know people still actively seek to get bitterly upset over things that they’re ostensibly not caring about.
01/06/2011 at 12:21 Bilbo says:
What a massive outrage fail
01/06/2011 at 12:25 Lilliput King says:
Could be time to attempt to make use of this block button.
01/06/2011 at 12:28 gorgol says:
Hmm I didn’t realise it was free as the article doesn’t state that and I’m so used to almost all devs charging for almost all DLC that I immdiately assumed this was being charged for too. Comment retracted and good on Brink! =}
01/06/2011 at 11:22 Lobotomist says:
Good, now make it 50% cheaper
01/06/2011 at 11:44 Tom OBedlam says:
troll
01/06/2011 at 11:46 Tom OBedlam says:
reply fail and edit isn’t working. You know who you are.
01/06/2011 at 13:01 Paraquat says:
I’m really enjoying Brink – I just wish there was more activity on the RPS server. Nothing more offputting than joining a server where nobody is even attempting to work as a team.
01/06/2011 at 13:59 galaxion says:
I have yet to find a server where ANYONE uses voice comms to organise. Are people using TS/Mumble or something besides the in-game voice comms?
01/06/2011 at 14:39 Paraquat says:
I don’t necessarily mean using voice comms, although I could go along with that (not sure what the deal is for the RPS server). People seemed to manage well enough on RtCW public servers. Maybe the community just needs more time to mature.
01/06/2011 at 14:59 Misnomer says:
The voice comms are largely broken. If you use them, Windows 7 decides that you are making a phone call and makes everything else on your computer unbearably quiet. This can be fixed with a workaround.
Brink’s voice comms themselves are also by default, freakishly quiet. This can be fixed with a workaround.
Brink does not show who is speaking on screen without going to the scoreboard or seeing the player in-game. For those with TS3 or Vent running, it is confusing because Brink VOIP quality is actually quite good and if you have brought the volume up to normal you have no idea which method is being used to communicate. This cannot be fixed with a workaround.
Basically it becomes easier to use TS3 or Vent because it is less work and less confusing, if they put names on screen with team colors that would at least make it usable with workarounds. It is a shame though as the game plays best with voice communication. Otherwise it is just guessing whether that guy in front of you will realize he just received an adrenaline buff…or if he will turn around to change class and reload while wasting the invulnerability.
01/06/2011 at 15:19 Kazang says:
In the old days we used to call things like this a Patch that helps to fix a broken game. It’s DLC now huh?
01/06/2011 at 16:17 Moonracer says:
Yay more Brink! I’m definitely enjoying the game and more maps will help keep it alive.
It’s interesting that this game seems unpopular with fans of other online FPS games. I know I generally can’t play the Modern warfare type games online but do enjoy this (and tend to do well). Perhaps because the action is slow enough where you have time to think about what to do? Brink actually seems to encourage patience (especially when breaking through choke points).
01/06/2011 at 18:12 mkultra says:
Do we get a free Nvidia card with the DLC as well?
02/06/2011 at 10:15 mda says:
This.
Game does not work with ati cards. Apparently there’s a console work around but I shouldn’t have to bloody well turn off shadows for the game to run.
First NS2 and now this… not pre-ordering any more.
02/06/2011 at 11:53 dazman76 says:
You should ask ATI/AMD about this, not Splash Damage. Your drivers are at fault, not the game itself. Several recent releases have performed poorly on ATI cards – it would probably be best if they hired some driver programmers who actually understand OpenGL :) NV only seem to have problems with 5xx cards with Brink, and I hear they’re not as serious as the ATI problems.
01/06/2011 at 19:31 wererogue says:
So… still no ladies? Still made of customization fail.
01/06/2011 at 19:40 rayne117 says:
All the women on the Ark are too busy getting their degrees and being equal to men to make an appearance.
05/06/2011 at 00:34 johnpeat says:
I wondered if we’d see an update on the ‘Brink on available on UK Steam’ thing – apparently not??
Hunted: Demons Wotsit did the same trick – was available for pre-order, then launched in the US (still pre-orderable in the UK) and then came Friday and it disappeared without trace…
Clearly there’s some silly-fuckery going on…