games for windows - may 2007

Display Until May 15 PREVIEWED CRYSIS 6 PAGES OF EXPLOSIVE, ALL–NEW SCREENS REVIEWED COMMAND & CONQUER 3 BAD ACTORS, GREAT GAME GFW.1UP.COM MAY 2007 ISSUE 06 $4.99 U.S. $6.99 Canada ISSUE 06 I MAY 2007 I THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE ® TM Games for Windows NEW COMPANY OF HEROES! CRYSIS EXCLUSIVE NEW PC SCREENS! THE ULTIMATE PC GAMING AUTHORITY MAY 07 REVIEWED VANGUARD WORLD OF WARCRAFT HAS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT VIDEOGAME DOCUMENTARIES FIVE UPCOMING FILMS EVERY GAMER NEEDS TO SEE VIDEOGAME DOCUMENTARIES FIVE UPCOMING FILMS EVERY GAMER NEEDS TO SEE WORLD EXCLUSIVE COMPANY OF HEROES: OPPOSING FRONTS THE SECOND STAND–ALONE CHAPTER TWO NEW CAMPAIGNS • TWO NEW ARMIES REVIEWED IS VISTA WORTH IT? PLUS: 20 ESSENTIAL TIPS WORLD EXCLUSIVE COMPANY OF HEROES: OPPOSING FRONTS THE SECOND STAND–ALONE CHAPTER TWO NEW CAMPAIGNS • TWO NEW ARMIES VIDEOGAME DOCUMENTARIES FIVE UPCOMING FILMS EVERY GAMER NEEDS TO SEE SPECIAL REPORT INTERVIEW JOHN CARMACK DOOM CREATOR SPEAKS REVIEWED IS VISTA WORTH IT? PLUS: 20 ESSENTIAL TIPS WORLD EXCLUSIVE COMPANY OF HEROES: OPPOSING FRONTS THE SECOND STAND–ALONE CHAPTER TWO NEW CAMPAIGNS • TWO NEW ARMIES VIDEOGAME DOCUMENTARIES FIVE UPCOMING FILMS EVERY GAMER NEEDS TO SEE SPECIAL REPORT INTERVIEW JOHN CARMACK DOOM CREATOR SPEAKS Blood and Gore Use of Alcohol and Tobacco Violence THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE™: SHADOWS OF ANGMAR™ interactive video game © 1995-2007 Turbine, Inc. and patents pending. All rights reserved. Middle-Earth Poster Map © 2007 The Saul Zaentz Company, d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises (SZC), under license to Turbine, Inc. All rights reserved. “The Lord of the Rings Online”, “Shadows of Angmar”, The Watcher logo, “The Lord of the Rings” and the names of the characters, events, items and places therein are trademarks or registered trademarks of SZC under license to Turbine, Inc. Turbine and the Turbine logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Turbine, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other jurisdictions. MIDWAY and the MIDWAY LOGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Midway Amusement Games, LLC. Used by Permission. The ESRB rating icons are registered trade- marks of the Entertainment Software Association. Software platform logo (™ and ©) IEMA 2007. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Midway Home Entertainment Inc. and its affili- ates do not monitor, endorse or accept responsibility for the content of any non-Midway website. Distributed under license by Midway Home Entertainment Inc. 24 36 46 Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts Don’t call it an expansion! Check out our world-exclusive first look at the ambitious stand-alone follow-up to Relic’s groundbreaking RTS. Contents It’s like the entire magazine in two pages! Neat! 08 Editorial The resident spokesperson for pasty-faced, antisocial shut-ins complains because it’s sunny outside. Next month: why food and shelter are bad. 10 Letters As usual, you write us some snarky letters and we write you some snarky replies. 14 Start Take a fresh look at DirectX 10 poster child Crysis and Sins of a Solar Empire—the next game from indie powerhouse Stardock. We also pick id cofounder John Carmack’s brain a bit and take a peek at a few videogame docu- mentaries currently under way. DEPARTMENTS COVER STORY SINS OF A SOLAR EMPIRE THE WITCHER 14 CRYSIS FEATURE 4 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE 56 Windows Vista Should PC gamers install Vista? We threw a couple dozen games at Microsoft’s new OS to find out. Also: 20 tips to maximize your Vista experience. 32 TYPE WHAT YOU FEEL FEATURE THE GENETIC EMPIRE HAS BEEN BORN. 3000 YEARS IN THE FUTURE, THE HUMAN RACE DOMINATES THE UNIVERSE. WITH MASSIVE FLEETS OF ORGANIC STARSHIPS, GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOR WAR, HUMANITY SETS OUT TO CONQUER THE LAST REMAINING INDEPENDENT GALAXY. Morph your armada in real-time with powerful upgrades. Command massive fl eets to conquer your enemies. Single-player, Multiplayer and Co-operative game modes. © 2007 Metamorf, Inc., licensed exclusively to DreamCatcher Interactive Inc. Package design © 2007 DreamCatcher Interactive Inc. The DreamCatcher design and mark are registered trademarks of DreamCatcher Interactive Inc. This product contains software technology licensed from GameSpy Industries, Inc. © 1999 - 2007 GameSpy Industries, Inc. GameSpy and the “Powered by GameSpy” design are trademarks of GameSpy Industries, Inc. FMOD Sound System, copyright © Firelight Technologies Pty, Ltd., 1994 - 2007. Microsoft®, Windows® and DirectX® are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. Software platform logo ™ and © IEMA 2007. All other brands, product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. All rights reserved. www.GenesisRisingGame.com 6 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE 92 76 77 80 TOM VS. BRUCE 70 76 Blitzkrieg II: Fall of the Reich 76 City Life: World Edition 83 Combat Mission: Shock Force 66 Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars 46 Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts 14 Crysis 70 Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar 83 Lux Deluxe 83 Risk II 77 Sam & Max: Episode 4— Abe Lincoln Must Die! 72 Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game 36 Sins of a Solar Empire 80 Supreme Commander 74 Vanguard: Saga of Heroes 24 The Witcher 28 World in Conflict GAME INDEX 64 Reviews Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars finally arrives, and we’re pleased to discover that it’s one of the best recent games in its genre. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. 80 Extend This month, battledorks Tom Chick and Bruce Geryk go head-to-head to see who is the truly Supreme Commander, and MMORPG con- noisseur Cindy Yans explores the wide world of online griefing. 92 Tech Think you need some big, black obelisk of a PC to get your game on? Think again: In the first part of a three-part series, we walk you through building a gaming- worthy small form-factor PC. 98 Greenspeak The world’s worst preview of the world’s most generic fantasy action-role-playing game! 66 XTRAS 72 SAM & MAX: EPISODE 4CITY LIFE GALCIV II: DARK AVATA R SECRETS OF THE ARK COMMAND & CONQUER 3 DEPARTMENTS (CONT.) After you’ve soaked up our Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts cover story on pg. 46, visit 1UP for more bonus materials. Also: Crysis video and profound editor gab on GFW Radio. THIS MONTH ON GFW06.1UP.COM TECH 8 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE Staff As I type this, it is a glorious day in San Francisco, California: sunny, warm, not a cloud in the sky. Good news? Maybe for you. For me, it presents a serious psychological impediment to my gaming habit. It’s hard enough sometimes to spend six or seven hours (or more) in front of the computer on a weekend day without feeling a little gross and guilty, but it’s even worse when Mother Nature herself is mocking me. “GO OUTSIDE,” she beckons. Yeah, well, you know what? I am “outside,” right here in Azeroth, lady, and this sun won’t give me skin cancer, OK? So go burn someone else and leave me alone with my games. Sheesh. But though the sunlight bums me out, I am happy about this issue of GFW, and I hope you will be too. While I have nothing but praise for the full-time crew here, I want to single out for special attention some of the freelancers who contributed some really stellar work this month. Evan Shamoon, former editor-in-chief of XBN magazine, conducted a great interview (pg. 32) with the folks behind Façade, a groundbreaking work in interactive storytelling. Regular contributor Robert Ashley wrote one of the funniest previews I’ve read in a long time (pg. 24). And freelance writer Ed Halter, who has previously graced these pages with excellent, thought-provoking pieces on Islamogaming, the gaming scene in China, and Christian videogaming, returns this month with a report on upcoming film documentaries about videogame culture (pg. 42). Finally, a personal shout-out and warm welcome to longtime industry writer and friend Cindy Yans, who joins us for two articles this month: a review of the latest Broken Sword game (pg. 72), and an amusing tale of her secret life as a vindictive ganker in our ongoing MMO column Crisis on Infinite Servers (pg. 84). Yay! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to pull the shades here, wrap my black cape around me, and get back to my game. Soon the sun will set, and all will be well again. Jeff Green Editor-in-Chief Games for Windows: The Official Magazine Now Playing: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, Peggle, World of WarCraft 1UP.com Blog: GFWJeff.1UP.com EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor-in-Chief Jeff Green Managing Editor Sean Molloy Senior Editor Darren Gladstone Editor Ryan Scott Editor Shawn Elliott DESIGN Art Director Michael Jennings Junior Designer Rosemary Pinkham CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Loyd Case, Tom Chick, Robert Coffey, Jason Cross, Bruce Geryk, Eric Neigher, Matt Peckham ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA GAME GROUP President Scott C. McCarthy Senior Vice President and General Manager, 1UP Network Ira Becker Senior Vice President and Editorial Director John Davison Senior Vice President of Publishing Scott McDaniel Vice President, Sales Marci Yamaguchi Vice President of Marketing, Research and Events Rey Ledda Director of Finance Vyshalee Joshi Group Creative Director Simon Cox COPY DESK Copy Chief Jason Wilson Copy Editor Kaitlen Jay Exum Copy Editor Andrew Fitch PRODUCTION Production Manager Shelly Reimer SALES Vice President, Sales Marci Yamaguchi Senior Director of Promotions Tom Byron Promotions Coordinator Tiffany Orf TERRITORY MANAGERS AND ACCOUNT EXECS Gaming Northwest Key Accounts National Advertising Director Amy Mishra Account Executive Mac O’Rourke Gaming Southwest Key Accounts Regional Sales Director Leslie C. Gelfand Account Coordinator Paige Finkelman Gaming—West Coast Regional Sales Manager Rita Kline Account Coordinator Paige Finkelman Gaming & Consumer—East Coast Account Executive Stephenie Bryant Account Coordinator Marie O’Hara Consumer Print & Automotive—West & Midwest Senior Director of Consumer Advertising Sales Marc Callison Account Executive Missy Rounthwaite Automotive Accounts—West California Advertising Director Richard Taw III Online Sales Senior Director, Consumer Online Rick Rizzo Director, Consumer Online Leah Cook Director, Gaming Online Brent Martyn Account Executive Stacy Cohen Senior Advertising Coordinator Tipler Ubbelohde Administrative Assistant Lynn Fortunato 1UP.COM Editor-in-Chief Sam Kennedy Senior Manager of Ad Operations Adam Carey Audience Development Manager Nopadon Wongpakdee MARKETING Vice President of Marketing, Research and Events Rey Ledda Research Director May Tong Marketing Coordinator Vanessa Alvarado Marketing Graphic Designer Drew Hathaway Promotions Graphic Designer Robyn Uyeno To contact Sales & Advertising, please call (415) 547-8000 ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA, INC. Chairman & CEO Robert F. Callahan Chief Financial Officer and SVP Finance Mark D. Moyer Executive VP, Licensing and Legal, General Counsel Gregory Barton PRESIDENTS Scott C. McCarthy (Game Group) Sloan Seymour (Enterprise Group) Jason Young (Consumer/Small Business Group) SENIOR VICE PRESIDENTS Kenneth Beach (Corporate Sales) Ira Becker (Game Group) John Davison (Editorial Director, Game Group) Jim Louderback (Editorial Director, Consumer/Small Business Group) Angelo Mandarano (Sales & Marketing, Consumer/Small Business Group) Scott McDaniel (Publishing, Game Group) Martha Schwartz (Custom Solutions Group) Michael Vizard (Editorial Director, Enterprise Group) VICE PRESIDENTS Eric Danetz (Corporate Sales) Karl Elken (Publisher, eWeek) Todd Faulk (FileFront Operations) Neil Glass (Consumer/Small Business Group) Aaron Goldberg (Market Experts) Barry Harrigan (Internet) Kristin Holmes (International Licensing) Phil Kramer (Enterprise Online Sales and Marketing) Michael Krieger (Market Experts) Derek Labian (FileFront General Manager) Rey Ledda (Marketing, Research and Events, Game Group) Rick Lehrbaum (Internet) Eric Lundquist (Editorial Director, eWEEK) Chris Maginn (Internet) Jim McCabe (PC Magazine) John McCormick (Editor-in-Chief, Baseline/CIO Insight) Priscilla Ng (e-Events) Paul O’Reilly (Event Marketing Group) Beth Repeta (Human Resources) Thomas Rousseau (Corporate Sales) Jim Selden (CSB Marketing/Sales Development) Stephen Sutton (Audience Development, Consumer/Small Business) Stephen Veith (Enterprise Group Publishing Director) Monica Vila (Event Marketing Group) Marci Yamaguchi (Sales, Game Group) IT West Coast Senior Technical Analyst Bill Schmelzer Desktop Administrator Gino Juisto Contact anyone on this masthead via e-mail using firstname_lastname@ziffdavis.com PERMISSIONS Copyright © 2007 Ziff Davis Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. For permission to reuse material in this publication (or on this website) or to use our logo, e-mail permissions@ziffdavis.com. For reprints, contact FosteReprints at (866) 879-9144. SUBSCRIPTIONS For subscription service questions, address changes, or to order, please contact us at: Web: http:// gfw.1UP.com/service/ (for customer service) or http://gfw.1UP.com/subscribe/ (to order); Phone: U.S. and Canada (800) 827-4450 or (850) 682-7624, elsewhere (303) 604-7445; Mail: Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, P.O. Box 57167, Boulder CO 80322-7167 (please include your mail- ing label with any correspondence as it contains information that will expedite processing); Fax: U.S. and Canada (850) 683-4094, elsewhere (303) 604-0518; E-mail (please type your full name and the address at which you subscribe): subhelp@computergaming.com. Subscriptions: The one-year subscription rate is $19.97 or $34.97 with CD-ROM. Games for Windows: The Official Magazine is published monthly, with occasional exceptions: A special issue may count as a subscription issue, a combined or expanded issue may count as two subscription issues, and there may sometimes be an extra issue. Outside the U.S., add $16 per year for surface mail, U.S. funds only. Please allow 4-6 weeks before receiving your first issue as well as for any subscription changes to take place on an existing subscription. Back Issues: Back issues are $8 each in the U.S., $10 each elsewhere (subject to availability). Prepayment is required. Make checks payable to Games for Windows: The Official Magazine. Mail your requests to: Back Issues, Ziff Davis Media Inc., P.O. Box 53131, Boulder, CO 80322-3131. Mailing lists: We sometimes make lists of our customers available to mailers of goods and services that may interest you. If you do not wish to receive their mailings, please write to us at: Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, P.O. Box 57167, Boulder, CO 80322-7167. ROSEMARY PINKHAM JUNIOR DESIGNER Unlike Jeff, Rosie will not be avoiding the sun this month. Once this issue is finished, she’ll be out of the dark confines of the GFW office and loung- ing poolside in Vegas with a cold drink in her hand. Now Playing: Blackjack 1UP.com Blog: GFWRosie.1UP.com SHAWN ELLIOTT EDITOR (START) One New Year’s resolution down: Shawn plugged in the Saitek X52 flight stick and is finally flying Il-2 without set- ting his engine on fire and shearing his wings off. Now Playing: S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Peggle, Il-2 Sturmovik, Crysis demo 1UP.com Blog: GFWShawn.1UP.com SEAN MOLLOY MANAGING EDITOR A personal post–Burning Crusade guild crisis has forced Sean to take a breather from WOW and dis- cover there are other games to play. Actually, just alts to create. Now Playing: Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar, World of WarCraft 1UP.com Blog: GFWSean.1UP.com RYAN SCOTT EDITOR (REVIEWS/EXTEND) Ryan’s currently bouncing between WOW, Ultima Online, Eve Online, and City of Heroes. Daylight? Feh! Who needs it? Now Playing: Lots of MMOs 1UP.com Blog: GFWRyan.1UP.com MICHAEL JENNINGS ART DIRECTOR Michael was disappointed to discover that his winter of discontent will actually not end with the coming of spring. Now Playing: Battlefield 2 1UP.com Blog: GFWMichael.1UP.com DARREN GLADSTONE SENIOR EDITOR (FEATURES/TECH) Computers? What are those? A few weeks out of the office and Darren finds himself playing catch-up. His post- honeymoon trial by fire: the running of the geeks at the GDC. Now Playing: Everyday Shooter, The Blob, World of WarCraft 1UP.com Blog: GFWDarren.1UP.com MEET THE STAFF GREETINGS FROM COUNT NERDULA The sunlight—it burns! BECAUSE THE FATE OF ALL MANKIND IS TOO GREAT TO BE DECIDED ON A CONSOLE ALONE [...]... couple of napalm strikes, and we eventually stood victorious over Pine Valley in all of its wrecked- and bombed-out (and probably uninhabitable -for- several-years-to-come) glory Satisfied with our conquest, we decided to take a quick peek at WIC’s multiplayer features before signing off Eight-on-eight U.S.-versusSoviet battles are the name of the game here, and each player fills a very specific combat... open-ended and emergent as Will’s amazing games are, but it’s tough, because the design goals we’ve chosen for ourselves make it harder for us We’re working with the English language, not more abstract Simlish or nonhuman creatures, and we’re going for deep, first-person, peer-to-peer character interaction In Will’s games, the player is a god looking down on the action of many small agents, and therefore... Myst was popular Looking at these games, only World of WarCraft falls into his Number Seven hate category However, System Shock, Thief: The Dark Project, and Deus Ex games he was responsible for all fit into his Number Seven hate category Look in the mirror, Warren Todd Steen 10 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE • Part of the purpose of Microsoft’s Games for Windows push is to help curb those... the land 28 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE World in Conflict Start WORLD IN CONFLICT An exclusive hands-on tour of duty with Massive’s next RTS PUBLISHER: Vivendi Games DEVELOPER: Massive Entertainment GENRE: Real-Time Strategy RELEASE DATE: Fall 2007 EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW Resource gathering (or, as we at GFW like to call it, dirt farming) is one of the sacred cows of the real-time-strategy genre... MAIL BYTES Pirating computer software was big before PC and Windows even existed These companies knew that going in So why is it now a big deal? baron_calamity Issue #1 of Computer Gaming World and Issue #1 of Games for Windows both have a dragon on the cover Is this mere coincidence, or are you guys trying to get a gimmick going? James 12 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE The real crime would... counter our armor, while infantry> •Break out the Crisco! In-engine cut-scenes make for lots of greased-up-looking character models GFW.1UP.COM • 29 Start World in Conflict •Pine Valley’s about to have a very, very bad day •Tactical nukes make things go boom •In multiplayer, each participant takes on a specific duty, like air or armor 30 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE World in Conflict Start... populist alternatives to describe the art you’re trying to give form to? MM: When we first started Façade, we made a big deal about distinguishing what we were doing from games But over time we stopped caring whether it’s called a game or not Games are the most successful high-agency interactive form, even if currently it’s 34 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE mostly local, not global, agency... videogames have always been about you, the player User-created content on the Internet is sort of catching up to what videogames have already been doing for awhile now Download Façade for libre at www.interactivestory net, and get in touch if you think you’d be a good fit for The Party: They’re currently looking for experienced programmers to join the team • Freeloader Start FREELOADER Scoring free games. .. the roof, drop down on the other side, and perform a surprise attack from behind… Emerge from behind a bush and speed-sprint straight for the enemy and take him out before he has a chance to react.” We pose a hypothetical of our own: Jump across rooftops with strength jump—but miss the landing, and switch to armor mode to absorb the 9.8meters-per-second-squared shock Spot a vehicle careening down the... cell-phone project as a kind of proving ground for new PC IPs? JC: That’s one of my ideas: Turn the model on its head Normally, people think about exploiting the cell-phone space with existing IPs—some shoddy little thing with a well-known name But, because I’ve been concerned about top-notch PC or console titles costing $20 million to produce, I like the possibility of trying out an idea for a half-million . Commander. laughterkilsme 12 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE12 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE Letters Re: 12 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE12 • GAMES FOR WINDOWS: THE OFFICIAL. Green Editor-in-Chief Games for Windows: The Official Magazine Now Playing: Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, Peggle, World of WarCraft 1UP.com Blog: GFWJeff.1UP.com EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor-in-Chief. http:// gfw.1UP.com/service/ (for customer service) or http://gfw.1UP.com/subscribe/ (to order); Phone: U.S. and Canada (800) 82 7-4 450 or (850) 68 2-7 624, elsewhere (303) 60 4-7 445; Mail: Games for Windows: The