Congratulations to Masni for winning the trivia contest and receiving a copy of Evil Genius!

Previous trivia:
Which RTS game pioneered the use of three distinct & unique races instead of two equal sides, and was able to successfully balance them?

The "Zerg Rush" is such a well-known strategy from StarCraft that it's become a commonly used term outside of the game.

Answer: StarCraft by Blizzard Entertainment.

Although some earlier RTS games had 3 or more different sides one could play, they weren't that different from each other. For example, Age of Empires was released before StarCraft and had 9 civilizations, but they were similar. The 3 races in StarCraft were completely different from each other, and would be played differently.

Although the single player campaigns of StarCraft are fondly remembered by the fans, the multiplayer is what most people know StarCraft for. Thanks to the balanced races, complex strategies, and quick matches, StarCraft has become a hugely competitively game. StarCraft is still played competitively today and is often a game found in tournaments that focus on more than one game and genre.

A digital copy of the StarCraft Anthology, which contains StarCraft and the Brood War expansion pack, is available for $14.99 from Blizzard's online store.


Sales:

Because we know everyone has been wanting this game:
Freight Tycoon is $4.49 (-70%) at GamersGate.

Direct2Drive is having an "up to 75% off" sale on games by Kalypso.

GetGamesGo.com (affiliated with EuroGamer) has some specials, including DogFighter for $5.50.


News:

Child's Play breaks it's annual record with $2,294,317.53 collected in 2010.

A post-apocalyptic MMO called Xsyon is launching on March 1st. You can register on their site now for pre-orders ($39.99 for beta access and 2 month membership, with $15/mo subscription after that, or quarterly, biannual, and annual plans). The game is set in the American west in the year 2012.

Players of Dead Space 2 will have the plasma cutter from Dead Space unlocked at the start of the game if they have a completed save game from the first game on their hard drive.

R.U.S.E. was already innovative for supporting multi-touch touchscreens, but now thanks to a Kinect hack, you can play it by waving around your hands.

R.U.S.E. E3 trailer that shows playing the game on a multi-touch table.

R.U.S.E. trailer that demonstrates the game played on touchscreen PCs.

If you rather not buy a Kinect, you can wait for the WAVI Xtion by Asus, which will contain PrimeSense's technology, the same technology used in the Kinect.

Here's an article from Ars Technica about the WAVI Xtion.

Some other technology that may be coming to the laptop soon: glasses-free 3D. Toshiba says that it could bring glasses free 3D laptops to the market by the end of the year, with the Qosmio laptop.

Steam's December hardware survey is out. Did you know that 100% of Steam users use Steam? Or that 3% of users don't have Flash?


Send your trivia contest entries to PCGamingisDead@gmail.com. The current contest closes on Thursday, January 6th, at 6pm PST (-0800 UTC).

Send tips, comments, and suggestions to Charlaxian@gmail.com.

Our last of the daily podcasts!

New schedule: Contests will end Monday and Thursday at 6pm PST and the podcasts will be released on Tuesday and Friday morning before 8am PST. Also, we will be doing at least one game review per week, probably released on the weekend.

We also have some new games to include in our giveaway:
- Evil Genius
- The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom
- Toki Tori


Congratulations to Baizyeh for winning the end of the year contest and receiving AudioSurf.

The responses for our listener game of the year discussion are in!

Some answers we received for best 2010 games that listeners played:

- Sid Meier's Civilization V
- Fallout: New Vegas
- Mass Effect 2
- Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
- StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
- Super Meat Boy
- Shatter


And some answers we received for older games that were still the best game listeners played in 2010:

- Braid
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Fallout 3
- Mass Effect
- Spelunky

And here's a link to Spelunky, for those that haven't played it. It's a free.


Final Day of Steam Sales! Buy all the games you want before this sale ends!

Daily indie deal:
Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes is $2.99 (-85%).

This game is part of the Meridian4 Complete Collection which costs $34.99 (-75%), and is a great deal for anyone that wants a large variety of indie and small studio games.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is $6.80 (-66%).

Killing Floor is $4.99 (-75%).
Killing Floor Character Packs are 50¢ (-75%) each. There are 4 of them.
Killing Floor Complete Pack is $6.99 (-75%). This does not save you any money.

Plants vs. Zombies: GOTY Edition is $3.99 (-60%).

The Hitman games are $2.49 (-75%) each. There is also a pack with Codename 47, Silent Assassin, and Blood Money for $7.49, but this costs 2¢ more than buying them separately.

Left 4 Dead 2 is $6.80 (-66%).
Left 4 Dead 2 - Four Pack is $20.40 (-66%). That is $5.10 each.

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition is $9.99 (-75%). This includes Grand Theft Auto IV, as well as The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Dead Space is $6.80 (-66%).

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bundle is $4.99 (-88%). It contains Shadow of Chernobyl and Call of Pripyat. It does not contain Clear Sky. These two games separately are $9.99 (-50%) so if you only want one, buy the bundle.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Platinum is $9.99 (-50%).

Empire & Napoleon Total War™ - Game of the Year Edition is $24.99 (-50%). This contains Empire: Total War and Napoleon: Total War Imperial Edition as well as all the DLC's for these two games.

Mafia II is $12.49 (-75%).

Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is $29.99 (-40%).


Final reminder for sales at the following sites:

Good Old Games

GamersGate

Impulse Driven

Why play the game when you can just read the book?

News:

Here is some old news from Reddit that we missed a few days ago (sorry Reddit).
A patch has been released for Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction that makes the games no longer validate with Ubisoft's DRM server while you play them. You will still need an online connection for the initial launch of the games, but after that Ubisoft won't be constantly checking to make sure your game is valid.

A new Mass Effect 2 DLC may be coming out a few weeks before the third game.

A BioShock novel will be released in March.

EA has unlocked Operation Hastings for Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam for Xbox 360 and PS3 even though neither of them have completed the 69 million team actions.


Don't forget that contests are now ending every Monday and Thursday night at 6pm PST. Today's trivia contest closes January 3rd at 6pm PST. Send your contest entry to PCGamingisDead@gmail.com. You will be entered for a chance to win a game on Steam, including some new additions to the contest pool that we picked up during the holiday sale.

Thanks for your support during the daily podcast, and don't forget about the new schedule. Also, watch for new reviews and game videos soon!

Congratulations to Link777, who won a copy of NyxQuest in the December 30th trivia contest.


Because yesterday's podcast was released so late in the day we are going to extend the contest another day.

Send responses to the contest to PCGamingisDead@gmail.com. The contest now closes January 2nd at 6pm PST (-0800 UTC).

Steam Sails.  Too literal?

Steam sales:

Daily indie deal:
Ion Assault for $2.50 (-75%).

All Half-Life games are 75% off. Their prices range from $1.24 for Blue Shift, Opposing Force, and HL2: Deathmatch, to $1.99 for Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two, to $2.49 for Half-Life and Half-Life 2. Or, you can get the Half-Life 1 Anthology for $3.74, which has HL, Blue Shift, Opposing Force, and Team Fortress Classic, or the Half-Life Complete pack that includes all of the mentioned games for $9.99 ($1.24 each). Great deal for anyone who doesn't have these games.

All Company of Heroes games are 75% off. Company of Heroes is $2.49, Opposing Fronts is $4.99, and Tales of Valor is $7.49. There's also Company of Heroes: Gold which includes Opposing Fronts, but it's one cent more than buying these games separately.

Swarm Arena is $2.50 (-75%).

AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity is $2.50 (-75%).

Zeno Clash is $3.75 (-75%).

The Bionic Commando Pack is $12.49 (-50%). The games in this pack are also 50% off, so we recommend just buying Bionic Commando: Rearmed.

Mafia II is $12.49 (-75%).

Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga is $19.99 (-50%).

The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom is $24.99 (-50%), and the Gold Edition, which includes the soundtrack and some additional content, is $29.99 (-50%). All DLCs are currently full price.

Football Manager 2011 is $26.79 (-33%), now that it's finally 2011.

Medal of Honor is $29.99 (-50%). Yes, it was $60. The strategy guide is also 50% off. I have yet to know of someone buying a strategy guide on Steam.

Games for Windows:
Lost Planet 2 is $19.99 (-50%) this week at Games for Windows. This is cheaper than it currently is on Steam.


News/discussion:

Nicalis, publisher of Cave Story for Wii, have announced via Twitter that the game Night Sky is coming to PC on January 6th. We've been unable to find further details. Visiting their website only shows details about an "upcoming" WiiWare release.

Here's a link to download Cave Story. If you're looking for an English PC/Mac version specifically, try the Cave Story Deluxe Package.

Congratulations again to JDCapo for solving the puzzle that was going on throughout December and winning a copy of Fallout: New Vegas.

Previous trivia question:
What highly influential first person shooter did Warren Spector design?

Pick the lock, manipulate electronics, hack the keypad, enter the correct key code, or just shoot the guard?

Answer: Deus Ex by Ion Storm Inc.

Ion Storm was co-founded in 1996 by many important people in the gaming industry: John Romero, Tom Hall, Jerry O'Flaherty, and Todd Porter. In 1997 Warren Spector joined the company and founded the Austin branch of Ion Storm. Warren Spector worked on many influential games: Wing Commander, Ultima Underworld, System Shock and Thief. He brought along many other talented people from Looking Glass Studios that also worked on these games, and together they made Deus Ex.

Deus Ex built on what System Shock started. It was an FPS/RPG hybrid with a rich story built around real world conspiracy theories. The environments were open and encouraged the player to explore. Warren Spector tried to focus on making the game an immersive experience so players would not be pulled out of the story and reminded that they were playing a game.

Deus Ex received near-universal acclaim from the industry and from critics. It earned a number of awards and many nominations, including over 40 "Game of the Year" and/or "Best in Class" awards. In 2009 PC Gamer named Deus Ex the "Best PC Game of All Time."


Steam sales:

Daily indie deal:
Madballs in... Babo: Invasion for $2.50 (-75%), or get a 4 pack for $7.50 ($1.875 each). The skins are not on sale, but these can be unlocked through playing the game.

Guardians of Graxia is $2.49 (-75%) it's Map Pack is 74¢ (-75%). There is also a pack containing both of these items, but it is $3.24 which costs 1¢ more than buying them separately!

Flight Control HD is $1.70 (66% off).

The Theatre of War games are all 75% off. Theatre of War is $2.49. Theatre of War 2: Africa 1943 is $4.99 and it's Centauro DLC is $4.99. Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943 is $4.99 and it's Battle of Caen DLC is $2.49. All of thse games are also available in the Theatre of War Collection for $11.25.

Supreme Commander 2 is $3.74 (-75%) and the Infinite War Battle Pack One DLC is $2.49 (-75%).

All of the Command & Conquer games are 75% off. Red Alert 3 is $4.99 and so it the Uprising DLC for it. Tiberium Wars is $7.49 and the expansion Kane's Wrath is $4.99. The newest game, Tiberian Twilight, is $4.99.

Dawn of Discovery Gold is $14.99 (-50%). If you already own Dawn of Discovery on Steam, you can purchase just the Venice DLC for $9.99 (-50%). There is currently no way to buy just Dawn of Discovery.

Empire & Napoleon Total War - Game of the Year Edition is $24.99 (50% off) or $19.99 (60% off) if you own Medieval II: Total War or Rome: Total War. This pack has Empire: Total War, and Napoleon: Total War, along with all the DLC for both games.

Star Wars: Jedi Knight Collection is $5.00 (75% off). It contains Dark Forces, Dark Forces II, Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Outcast, and Jedi Academy.

The Hitman games are $2.49 (-75%) each. The Hitman Collection that includes Codename 47, Silent Assassin, and Blood Money is $7.47 (-75%). There is no extra discount for buying the collection.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bundle is $4.99 (88% off). It contains Shadow of Chernobyl and Call of Pripyat. It does NOT contain Clear Sky.

Far Cry 2: Fortune's Edition is $4.99 (-75%). Or get the Far Cry Complete pack that includes this game and Far Cry for $7.49 (-75%).

Team Fortress 2 is $5.00 (-75%). Or get the Team Fortress Complete pack that includes this game and Team Fortress Classic for $5.62 (-75%).


Other Sales:

Lego Batman is $9.99 (50% off) at Games for Windows. It's also the same price on Steam.

Medal of Honor is $29.95 (50% off) at Direct 2 Drive.


News/Discussion: The big list of PC games of the year.

GiantBomb's Best PC Only Game is StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. The runners Up were: Sid Meier's Civilization V and VVVVVV.

PC Gamer UK's Game of the Year is Minecraft.

IGN's PC Game of the Year is StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. The other nominees were: Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Sid Meier's Civilization V, and Mass Effect 2.

GameSpot's best PC game is StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. The other nominees were: Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Mass Effect 2, Sid Meier's Civilization V, and Dead Rising 2.

GameSpy's PC Game of the Year is Sid Meier's Civilization V. The honorable mentions were: BioShock 2, Fallout: New Vegas, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

GameTrailer's best PC Game is Mass Effect 2. The other nominees were: Call of Duty: Black Ops, Sid Meier's Civilization V, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.


Spike's Video Game Awards Best PC Game is StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. The other nominees were: Fallout: New Vegas, Mass Effect 2, and Sid Meier's Civilization V.

Gamasutra's Top 5 PC games of 2010 are (in order): StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Sid Meier's Civilization V, Mass Effect 2, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and Stalker: Call of Pripyat. The honorable mentions were: ArmA II, Supreme Commander 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fallout: New Vegas, R.U.S.E., Super Meat Boy, Bejeweled 3, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and DeathSpank.

Metacritic's Top 5 highest rated PC games of 2010 are (in order): Mass Effect 2, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Super Meat Boy, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and Sid Meier's Civilization V.


Listen to the show for today's trivia question, and send your answer to PCGamingisDead@gmail.com. Today's contest closes at 6pm PST (-0800 UTC) on January 1st, 2011.

Happy New Year!