The PC Weekend Warrior: in the shadow of E3 2008, we yearn for revivals, Battlefield Heroes

This week hasn’t been as interesting as the last, but owing that to the Entertainment Software Association of America and it’s inability to keep prime PC developers happy in the midst of their financial backfiring. 2008’s E3 Media & Business Summit is just around the corner, and though we won’t hear anything Diablo-related coming from the LA Convention Center floors, there’s still a few PC games aiming to make a ruckus of the console-centric show. More at the full story.

Last week, we were all over Diablo 3. This week, we’re still feeling the aftershocks, but news for PC gaming has been slow of late. You could probably attribute that to the game developers saving all the big ones for the upcoming E3 2008 at Los Angeles, and that’s probably for the best.

Now while E3 may not be seeing Blizzard or Her Interactive on the floor, we’re pretty sure several other publishers will be prepping to outdo the console big-hitters with their own shocking revelations. But before we delve on PC gaming’s hopeful elite within E3, let’s gather what’s happened in the past several days.

PC Weekend Warrior blasts off in 3, 2, 1…

This week, we’ve seen something new crop up from PC puzzle and mystery adventure buffs Her Interactive with Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice, while Devil May Cry 4 from Capcom was expected to ship to retail shelves worldwide. Unfortunately for some stores, not all of these popped up in the past few days.

Last weekend was a sensational playthrough of the newest modification to come for Valve’s Half-Life Source engine, Day of Defeat: Source – if ever so limited by time. Just don’t ask how I fared against machinegun spam. Oh, the painful memories.

How goes Blizzard this week? Well, you won’t be referring to them as Blizzard anymore. News has it that the Activision Blizzard merger is inevitable, and from what we’re hearing, the name will be official this week.

So goodbye ‘Blizzard,’ hello Activizard – err, I mean Activision Blizzard. Contrary to what you might think, the operations will remain completely separate between the two entities. So whatever the teams are cooking, they’re still brewing with little change in plans.

Read: Call them Actizard: Activision-Vivendi merger gets official

And speaking of plans, we hear that a number of Diablo fans have questioned the loss of emphasis on potions and the World of Warcraft-spurred idea of re-speccing (re-specializing).

And ever hear of the petition for the Diablo 3 art team to take a grittier, darker theme to Sanctuary’s surroundings? That’s reached around 40,000 signatures already.

Read: Blizzard rep addresses inquiries to health globes and re-speccing

Still, former Blizzard North employees have given Diablo 3 the nod (and it’s a good nod, too), and that’s something. Okay, so maybe it’s coming from just one developer, but the Diablo 2 developers that have been asked about it did have a good amount of mixed emotions about the emergence of Diablo 3. So there’s got to be some positives there.

Read: Diablo 2 developer praises Diablo 3

Wondering how you’re going to get through September without turning to a streetside beggar? It so happens that the PC gamer’s top-listed must-haves are lined up for release by that month, and if that wasn’t enough, there are even rumors that Grand Theft Auto IV might debut on the PC this October.

Luckily, Crytek’s new slice of the Crysis pie will only cost us thirty bucks, and even if Take-Two’s GTA 4 won’t arrive, there’s THQ’s Saints Row 2 to fawn over.

Read: Crysis Warhead to be all yours for 30 bucks

We have heard nothing yet from EA Maxis on the latest from Sims 3, but it would appear that Electronic Arts decided to offer some filler in-between. MySims, the cuter adaptation of the most famous PC franchise, is finally arriving on the platform of its ancestors – and as we hear, with full-fledged online features, too.

And let’s not forget the impending success that could be Spore. Demand for the game seems so high right now, Will Wright’s latest masterpiece probably could reach the 100 million mark that The Sims franchise broke.

Read: MySims coming to the PC
Read: EA: Spore is the next The Sims

BioWare may have been enlightened by the principles of Stardock Systems, advocates of the principle “reward the legitimate copy owner, fight off piracy”.

Taking a similar stance, the legendary RPG developers will be rewarding gamers for purchasing an original copy of their game with additional content and support. But will they take into account that Stardock no longer uses copy protection either?

Let’s just hope that they plan this for Dragon Age: Origins, which is currently the company’s only PC-exclusive project brewing over the fire. And where is that exclusive video we were promised?

Read: BioWare to address piracy with DLC, multiplayer support
Read: New Dragon Age details to come on Wednesday

We know the PC community’s major issues with Bethesda’s latest high-profile franchise project known as Fallout 3. After all, the videogame is an FPS-RPG that tries to market on the Fallout name. The problem is, we know that it’s not quite Fallout at all – it’s just a game Bethesda thinks Fallout should be and had it branded that way.

We’ll revisit that issue another time. Now I wonder if the Australian government picked up on that note, because Fallout 3 might not be hitting shelves there anytime soon. Okay, okay, that’s not the reason why it was banned down under.

As with Haze, Fallout 3 is feared for its virtual drug usage.

Read: Rumor confirmed: Fallout 3 denied classification in Australia
Read: OFLC: Fallout 3 banned in Australia because of drugs

Now while Microsoft and Intel got vocal over E3’s focus on console gaming, we still hope that developers aren’t deterred from revealing their PC game projects at the E3 Media & Summit at the Los Angeles Convention Center coming next week.

Aside from GSC GameWorld’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, there’s still hopefuls such as Empire: Total War, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Left 4 Dead, Spore, and glistening Far Cry 2.

Top on many gamers’ lists are Valve’s Left 4 Dead and EA’s Spore, though I’ve always had love for real-time strategy games. So you could say I’m hoping for something great to come from Creative Assembly’s imperial age RTS and EA’s newest chapter of the Red Alert ‘verse.

BioWare’s Dragon Age is also likely to make a killing at the show if it ever pops up, plus that secret MMO project under Bethesda’s wing.

Let’s try to go overboard with our dreams here: what we’re especially excited about is the chance that Gas Powered Games might drop a bombshell on a new Dungeon Siege, or that 2K Games might finally resurrect one of the PC’s most prized franchises for a triumphant return.

We’re talking epic here, people: the exalted X-COM franchise. Take note: the only way you’re going to get this classic in all its original glamor is by shelling nearly 200 bucks for the collection. In that note, maybe EA might finally fish out Origin’s older franchises for a new spin. Crusader or Wing Commander anyone?

There are other games rumored to make landfall on the PC, so while anything goes for speculation, we won’t exclude them from the hopefuls list either. Oh, and did we forget the wildcard Interplay Entertainment?

Maybe because they haven’t officially signed on to E3 yet. But there’s nothing like a new MDK or Descent (plus FreeSpace) to whet our appetites., and we’re hoping they’re going to join the bandwagon anyways.

The full list of PC games that we hope (and pray) will make an appearance at E3 are as follows:

• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Electronic Arts)
• Crusader 3 (Electronic Arts)
• Descent 4 (Interplay)
• Descent: FreeSpace 3 (Interplay)
• Dungeon Siege 3 (Gas Powered Games under THQ)
• Earthworm Jim 4 (Interplay)
• Empire: Total War (Creative Assembly under SEGA)
• Fallout MMO (Interplay)
• Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft Montreal under Ubisoft)
• Grand Theft Auto IV (Take-Two Interactive)
• Left 4 Dead (Valve under Electronic Arts)
• MDK 3 (Shiny under Interplay)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky (GSC GameWorld under Deep Silver)
• Sims 3 (Maxis under Electronic Arts)
• Spore (Maxis under Electronic Arts)
• Wing Commander 5 (Electronic Arts)
• X-COM (2K Boston under Take-Two Interactive)

(Okay, now would be a great time to offer some sacrificial virgins, people. Hey, anything to lower the odds, eh?)

Little has been heard from DICE Illusions since the announcement of the closed beta period of Battlefield Heroes. Apparently, testing is still in progress, though we have heard so little info on progress from the developers.

Is the project still alive? Or has it been put on hold? Or is DICE currently focused on their other projects?

DICE, we know you’re busy with Faith and her government-oppressive world, but could you throw us a little bone? We know you tried to tide us over with a little Battlefield Heroes ringtone last week, but there’s only so much that an electronic jingle could do.

Summer’s here, and it’s threatening to slide past us like Solid Snake. All we ask is: when will we be able to try out an early build of Battlefield Heroes?

And that’s a wrap!

Next week could be interesting for the PC gamer, if not as mind-blowing as the news would be for their console neighbors and friends. We don’t see much in the way of new releases on retail, though that could change in another week or two. We’ve also heard that Sins of a Solar Empire‘s new massive patch could enter beta real soon, and SoSE owners might as well line up for testing now.

Coming up this week are a couple of insights to gamers’ struggles with post-retail support and piracy, while we check out the games from the open-source and independent gaming community that you might have wanted and missed. That and more of E3 as the new week turns.