Rock, Paper, Shotgun

You might remember that our Brendy thought free-to-play strategy Age Of Empires Online was a bit of alright, but he was a bit uncomfortable with the general “having other people in it” sort of feel. Of course that’s not stopped the seventy bajillion people who did sign up, and some of those probably even spent money on it. They’re going to have a new option for spending money this month because there’s a new bolt-on expansion called the “Skirmish Pack” (enthusiastically trailered below) which will, surprisingly, unlock all the races in the game (although not level you up to unlock all content) and allow you to customise all starting conditions for your game, allowing you to taste all the possible options for Empire-building.

I’m going to speculate that this is going to cost about £5, although there doesn’t seem to be a price announced for it yet. Ooh, we should totally run a sweepstake on which RTS will go F2P next!
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With the tile-based facepalming of Windows 8 slowly slouching this way, Microsoft used its CES conference last night to reveal assorted PC-related shenanigans. One of the more interesting – in theory – is a new version of its Kinect motion camera thinger, designed specifically for PC rather than Xbox.
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After over 340 years in development, there’s finally a trailer for Microsoft Flight. It’s the reboot of the previously defunct Flight Simulator series, beginning stuck on the islands of Hawaii, but coming out for free. The trailer doesn’t really emphasise the hardcore side of the game at all, so those hoping to find out if it’ll meet their MSFS needs will have to wait a bit longer.

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Remember when Microsoft closed ACES, the studio that makes Microsoft Flight Simulator, and everyone sighed and looked at their shoes and wondered if Steve Ballmer grew stronger with every studio the behemoth destroyed? That was 2009. In Spring 2012 the new Microsoft Flight will be released, and it will be a download, and it will be free.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator was dead for a while, but it’s due to return with one less word next year. Microsoft Flight is the name for the rebooted grandaddy of stately, faithfully-recreated aeorplanes, presumably because someone in marketing decided ‘Simulator’ didn’t sound suitably lifestyle. Microsoft Game Studios have been quietly documenting MSF’s progress over on their website for a while now, but they’ve just announced plans to open the bomb bay doors to interested beta testers next month. That all happens here.
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“Kinect. KIN-ECT! Write this down… no, don’t open the DVD drive. Close it. C-L-O-S-E it! Don’t make me come over there: you’ve seen what I do to a mouse during games of Team Fortress 2. Yeah, I thought that would scare you. I knew you things talked to each other. Right, so I’m speaking these words into my Kinect. It’s hooked up to my PC, thanks to Microsoft releasing it for the PC. Also, I’m from the future.”
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Bah. There’s always something to grumble about. This time it’s the not entirely unexpected news that Skyrim DLC will have at least 30 days timed exclusivity on them thar three hundred and sixties. Two pieces of DLC have been announced and this mini-delay is almost the sum total of what we know about them. We don’t even know when they are released at all. It’s a timed delay to announced but undated DLC for a game that comes out on November 11th. Words on the internet speak of their size as being “substantial” so maybe it’s best that they don’t arrive too soon. After all, the game itself is rumoured to be supersubstantial and we’ll all need to get through that first. On the bright side, at least this means they are definitely confirmed for PC and we don’t have to worry that we’ve been abandoned, even temporarily, as we were made to with New Vegas.

The story that won’t go away at the moment, other than the one about the people and politicians of Britain finally trying to overthrow the secret ruler of the world, is that Windows 8 might, just might, have some kind of support for Xbox 360 games. It’s a story that’s arrived from rumour and speculation, but apparently that’s enough for less salubrious places to claim it as fact. So, this is not another irresponsible post that headline-screams ‘Windows 8 will be able to play Xbox 360 games’ in the hoping of snaring hits but proceeds to offer absolutely zero proof. This is a post to say ‘don’t take that rumour seriously – yet.’
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This is odd. Well, I say “odd”, but baffling, userbase-offending marketing decisions seem to be story of Games For Windows Live’s short, obtuse life.

The short story: Games For Windows Live Marketplace is moving to Xbox.com

The long story: Huh?
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